Why charities and non-profit organisations should consider using Office 365

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Every charity/non-profit organisation we have ever worked with over the years has been driven by a core set of values and objectives, which we believe fits in well with what Microsoft Office 365 now offers this sector, for example:

  • Fundraising:  As well as the everyday implementation and planning of projects, events and initiatives, the biggest task facing charities is fundraising. So with collaboration platforms such as SharePoint Online that comes as part of Office 365, organisations can create areas for ideas to be forged with a wide audience of staff, volunteers and 3rd parties that will allow them all to communicate, generate awareness and contribute towards these goals.
  • Communication & Collaboration:  This is essential in every organisation but it can be difficult for charities in particular especially when geography and diversity of roles is added to the equation.  Organisations need to protect their information and Exchange Online which also comes as part of Office 365 delivers corporate standard email with antivirus and anit-spam all to the highest level. Combined with SharePoint Online and Microsoft Office these platforms provide a familiar environment for staff and volunteers alike that will allow for ideas and vital information to be recorded easily and consistently on any device.  The collaborative nature of Office 365 also cuts across geography and language boundaries while keeping costs low. Since everything is on a secured and centralised platform, ideas, updates and operational information never slips through the cracks.
  • Measuring Performance:  One of key elements of any charity is the requirement to monitor how well their projects are going, and assess and evaluate their effectiveness. This usually means that there is a lot of data that needs to be recorded and processed within tight timeframes, all of which takes time and effort that take away from the organisation core values and objectives.  So with the various elements of Office 365 information and data can be sorted, organised and made more accessible to those who need it and when data is centralised and available for analysis, it’s becomes easier to gain insight in order to make more strategic decisions.
  • Social:  Is something that can really help with adoption and awareness and with Office 365 it can also help charities create a more social based environment while still ensuring that operational information and objectives are met.  This in turn can encourage volunteers who are not necessarily tuned into corporate processes to contribute to ideas and information that turn into delivering key objectives in a less formal way.
  • Keeping Costs Down:  This is at the core of every charity and non-profit organisation and with Office 365 under a cloud computing subscription model this is a reality.  No more expensive capital expenditure on network servers and service contracts or downtime that generates more costs from upgrades or the latest security threats. Microsoft take care of all of that from their own data centres while also ensuring your information is kept secure and more importantly private to you.  This means even the smallest organisation can have a complete disaster recovery plan built-in when they move to Office 365, on a technology platform that is upgraded automatically and encourages information management and task automation to ensure more can be done in less time, and who in todays busy information driven world doesn’t need more time in their day?

Making sure resources are where they are needed most! 

Microsoft as you would expect with a founder such as Bill Gates, is a company that donates and subsidises a lot of their software to charity, education and non-profit sectors and this is equally true of their attitude towards Office 365 pricing to these sectors today.  For example, charities and non-profit organisations that already have Microsoft Office and don't need lots of extra software licences can avail of Office 365 for free.  While others that want or need more functionality and extra software are also given considerable discounts that are a fraction of the normal costs given to a typical commercial business.  A summary of the costs and eligibility for UK based charities/non-profit organisations can be found here.

So at the end of the day charities that are able to adopt and take advantage of Office 365 will be driving more than just a culture of collaboration and efficiency; they will also be ensuring that more of their funding will go directly towards the causes that need it most and in these times of economic caution and budget cuts coming from every direction that is the real pay back for making the change.

For more information on how the Office 365 platform can help your organisation save on costs, improve communication and speed up processes feel free to contact us on 028 9031 1010 or email us at solutions@endeavour-is.com and we will arrange a demonstration for you.

Remembering a classic

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It's 2007 and one of the most common things any business person has in their jacket pocket or bag is a BlackBerry.  It was the de-facto standard of phone and email on one device for that time and anyone who was anyone had one and would tell you, even today, that it was the only device they "ever had" that allowed them to type quickly and accurately.

Then in June of that same year and the Apple iPhone is released. Most business people thought it would be a flash in the pan but as we all know today, it wasn't and the iPhone along with various Android alternatives and the occasional Windows Phone now take their seats at what once was a fairly exclusive table.  Sorry Windows Mobile, Nokia Communicator, Palm etc. but you know its true.

Well if you are one of those BlackBerry addicts that I meet all the time who still wish they could go back to those good old days, you might be interested in the new BlackBerry Classic as the video below shows. 

It's a classic Curve/Bold styled BlackBerry, all be it bigger to support a larger battery, screen and with it a more plastic build quality compared to the original, but with all those little shortcuts you know and remember, along with some new tricks that might make it popular with those who wished they had a proper keyboard again.

Personally I have no idea how good this device was then or is now. I just remember at the time that I was one of those loyal Windows Mobile users who got email OK, but didn't really have a great phone experience and couldn't no matter how many devices I upgraded to could connect to their car kit, as Bluetooth just seemed to be a hit or miss myth. However, the fact that BlackBerry has released this device just shows there is some life in the old dog yet and that they believe there's a market in nostalgia.

Well, we'll just have to see how well it works out as today the variety of apps and services available is as important as how good the hardware is. BlackBerry 10 the operating system on this new device does bring "some" of those apps and modern services together such as Gmail and Office 365 based email as well as an Android style emulation feature.  However, I suspect regardless of all that, there will be plenty of people who over the last few years have just learned to accept an iPhone, Samsung or Microsoft Lumia phone who will love to try this out just for the keyboard memories alone.

For more information on the new BlackBerry Classic you can go to the BlackBerry website.

A desktop computer on a stick!

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Any of us who have purchased a TV in the last couple of years will have some kind of internet based streaming service either built in to or attached as a device to their TV such as Netflix, Roku or Amazon Fire TV but this is something else...  Intel have announced a complete PC running Windows on something the size of a USB stick.

The Intel Compute Stick connects to a HDMI port and needs powered by an additional USB port (which most TVs these days have) and from that you get a basic Intel Atom based PC that can be connected with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to turn your large screen device, projector or TV into a desktop PC for $150 as it was announced at CES this week.

Base specification of the Intel Compute Stick is as follows:

  • 1.33GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor
  • 2GB DDR3 RAM
  • 32GB internal storage
  • MicroSD slot (up to 128GB)
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • Full-size USB port
  • HDMI 1.4
  • Windows 8.1 Bing

So imagine a PC connected to the TV in your house or setup in a company reception area running the latest corporate PowerPoint message or used in an information kiosk or in a workshop area where space and working areas are limited.  It really does sound like a good idea but the proof will be how well it operates.  The processor is Intel Atom based so there won't be a lot of Adobe Photoshop work going on but it should, based on the specification suggested deliver reasonable performance for web browsing, streaming and general application usage in Microsoft Office which is probably the market it's aimed at.

For more information on the Compute Stick visit the Intel website: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

New Year Resolutions

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As we start this new year you are probably in post Christmas recovery mode trying not to think of the amount of alcohol or variations of Turkey you have consumed over the holidays and contemplating the various personal and business resolutions you want to achieve over 2015.

So with that in mind and to help you make a start "on the business resolutions anyway" here are a few suggestions to help you on your way and might even give you a night or two's better sleep safe in the knowledge that your business is better protected in the process:

1. Make sure you have a backup and recovery plan in place.  Not having this sorted out properly is still the number one reason businesses fail to recover from a disaster.  Bearing in mind that there are now new threats other than fire and theft to consider such as viruses that can encrypt and effectively destroy your data, regular backups with some held off-site preferable really is the number one priority.

2. Make sure you invest in some good antivirus software.  Again this is just a common sense thing to do these days but the main points we would make are that most antivirus software is good but that same antivirus software these days doesn't offer a silver bullet solution like it once did but more makes your PCs and networks safer, but not safe.  That takes the combination of such software and the next point below.

3. Make sure you and your staff know how to use internet and email responsibly.  Please don't misunderstand this point we're not suggesting you or your staff abuse the internet but there are plenty of scams and traps you can fall into if you are not careful.  What we mean that you should develop some simple rules for using the internet and processing email more safely.  For example, don't just open any email that comes in, click on its links or open its attachments and create a list of agreed safe websites with your staff that can be accessed and when they can be accessed.

We hope that these simple points will get you started and even if you only get around to implementing one of these in 2015 you will have benefitted your business and taken a little more stress out of your own life as well.

We hope you have a great 2015 and should you need any assistance with your IT systems please do not hesitate to contact us. We will meet with you and discuss your exact needs free of charge.

IT’s all systems go in 2015!

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Lee Surgeoner, Partner with Endeavour Information Solutions shares some concerns for the local ICT industry going forward along with his thoughts on technology development and what businesses of any kind need to focus on in the next 12 months. 

We’ll start with a mild tale of caution.

The IT sector within Northern Ireland is fairly unique to say the least. On the one hand we have various companies from the US and further afield running their global IT operations from Northern Ireland and bringing with it much needed investment then on the other side there are a considerable number of local long- established IT companies that in my opinion have over the years really innovated and provided some of the best ICT solutions and services anywhere in Europe (although I might be slightly biased in that view) and these are the companies that I am concerned for and how they will be able to contribute to that same level over the next few years.

Our local universities produce some of the brightest and best students for this sector but I am concerned that we could start to lose that talent to these global giants who tempt them with offers of generous salaries and benefits and as a direct result our local IT companies just won’t be able to meet the expectations of the future IT professional.

I speak with some experience of this over the last year which has meant that we have had to take action. If left unchecked, this situation could get worse over the next few years and impact the ability of local IT companies to deliver such innovation and service in the future.

This needs to be considered today; from personal experience this has meant increasing our staff numbers, providing additional training and professional certification opportunities and offering more than just a job but more an opportunity for personal growth and development to ensure that we keep our brightest and best growing within our business.

So please bear this in mind, because if proposed changes to our corporation tax system do come into play during 2015, it’s fairly safe to say that additional foreign investment will increase, which although will be great news to our economy as a whole, it might come with a sting in the tail for those in the local IT sector who ignore the best asset they have - their people.

On the road to date!

In terms of business for 2014 this has been a surprisingly good year for growth across the UK with higher than expected growth in various sectors such as Professional Services, Manufacturing and Retail, all of which feed into the additional development and sale of IT products and services.

This is something I can confirm as one of those IT providers which has experienced this growth. However, as recent media coverage has shown it is unclear going forward into the New Year what the position will be in the next 12 months with economic experts saying things will continue as they are now while government is saying we need to be prepared for stormy weather ahead.

At the end of the day I am not an expert on the economy; all I can say is that new business has been at a constant level of growth and appears to continue with customers keen to take the complexity out of their IT systems and to take control of their ongoing costs.

And so what’s hot in 2015?

The hottest ticket in town is cloud computing which vendors of such services continue to push the boundaries of what is possible to be delivered as a service. New functionality comes out nearly on a weekly basis at times and certainly keeps IT companies like ourselves that embrace it, far from being bored.

When such solutions were talked about five years ago there was concern from a number of IT companies that it would spell the end of the traditional IT service provider – and in some cases they would be right; the companies that don’t embrace the opportunity and don’t adapt their way of working to meet the new world of cloud-based subscription computing will find themselves losing out to the companies that do.

You will be amazed at what can be achieved under a cost-effective subscription that is secure, dependable and expandable to meet very specific business need and that is a business that will continue to grow over the next 12 months. That is what innovative IT companies are focusing on for their customers and those are the IT suppliers that businesses will want to work with in the future.

If market analysis is to be believed, 2015 is the year where mobile device sales will out- perform traditional PC sales not only in the consumer market but in the business market as well. So if you are an app developer the opportunities in this market should be considerable.

And so what should the new business start-up of 2015 focus on?

Northern Ireland has a wealth of great businesses from all sectors that innovate and export their products and services to all corners of the globe.  A big part of that is the individuals driving these businesses forward with new ideas and raw determination, usually combined with the advice and support organisations such as Invest NI provide to help ensure their business ideas succeed.

So what I would recommend to any start-up is to focus on what you do best; that sounds really obvious, but what I mean is don’t let complexity rule your business.

Technology can get complicated so if there is one thing I would advise it would be to get as much of your technology needs from a vendor that provides the service online.  That will mean you can control your costs without a high start-up outlay and will be able to work from anywhere, which can be important when you are just starting out trying to grow your business.

For advice on how you can simplify your business IT operations you can contact Lee on 028 9031 1010 or via email at lee@endeavour-is.com