Mobile workforce? Get secure CRM access

February 13, 2012 By

Wouldn’t it be great if after a meeting on a client’s site your account manager / sales rep could update your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system while the memory of the meeting is fresh in their minds?

With our new mobile CRM, Account Managers can now update the system on the go and search for critical information quickly and easily, often answering questions during meetings that might have previously takendays to follow up.

Bison Grid have developed this modification to our popular CRM system so that it can be accessed from anydevice with an internet connection. Passing data in this way can be a risky business and one of our firstclients for the mobile CRM is a large healthcare company, so Bison Grid’s highest level of encryption andsecurity is employed to protect the information of patients, Primary Care Trusts, hospitals and their staff. The custom reporting module allows Account Managers to contact the right people and keep a full history ofnotes, contact in meetings and objectives.

The system has full user tracking facilities so Managers can monitor their team members and run live reportsto get instant feedback.With this customisation to Microsoft Sharepoint & our core CRM system, we’ve proved once again that if an IT system doesn’t do what you need it to, Bison Grid will make it work. Let us know if you need us to take alook at yours.

Filed Under: Blog, Mobile Working Tagged With: ,

Why you need intelligent, lazy IT solutions

February 13, 2012 By

It’s not often we are inspired by German military chiefs here at Bison Grid, but General von Manstein’s theories on his preferred type of officer really made us stop and think about how IT is used by our clients.

Von Manstein proposed that there were four types of officers:

First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm.

Second, there are the hard-working intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered.

Third, there are the hard-working, stupid ones. These people are a menace, and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody.

Finally, there are the intelligent lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.

We reckon that intelligent lazy IT solutions are well suited to today’s most effective businesses.  Why is that?

Well, we are all accustomed to lazy stupid technology, which does no harm.  Sometimes it’s stupid simply just because it’s old.  Often legacy systems still work and although they might be a bit duff, they do the job.

There is also hardworking intelligent technology that manages the detail perfectly – lots of project management and office products fall into this category.  They cover lots of tasks and every eventuality, but actually are fairy labour intensive.

Then there’s hard working, stupid technology – those systems that make you jump through hoops for no apparent reason!   Sometimes these systems can be difficult to spot, or organisations hang on to them well past their sell by date because they are nervous of change.

And finally there’s intelligent, lazy technology – business solutions that do very clever things, and yet allow the user to focus on what’s important – their business.

If your business is holding on to legacy systems or needlessly complex IT, then perhaps it’s time to stop and think about Von Manstein’s intelligent lazy officers.  An integrated, managed IT solution might just transform the way you work, and allow you a bit more time to be lazy.

(with thanks to wikipedia for use of this image).

Filed Under: Blog, Communications Tagged With:

Reasons to update your WordPress blog

February 13, 2012 By

This post highlights some of the important factors which should hopefully convince you to update your WordPress blog. Keeping your Website safe and secure will save you a lot of hassle and prevent a lot of frustration.

The majority of website security breaches are caused by flaws found in the website CMS software (in this case WordPress) poor password policy. To reduce the risk of your website being hacked it’s very important to make sure WordPress is regularly updated with the latest software updates. In addition to this it is also important to keep your password safe and make sure it is changed on a regular basis.

Reasons for update – 1  Security and bug fixes.

Hackers are always finding new ways to access websites through weak points. When WordPress is updated the update includes lots of additional security features.

When WordPress release an unexpected update it does usually mean that a hole has been found and the individuals who don’t update their site are leaving the door wide open to anyone who may have malicious intent. In the worst case scenario if you run a business online your website could be attacked and you may not notice for a few hours or even days losing sales or enquires whilst your site is down.

Like most online CMS (Content Management Systems) or online applications, every so often bugs may appear in the systems. Nothing is perfect and in the case of WordPress their main goal is to make your WordPress experience a good one, so in order to fulfil this they are always finding ways to improve the service they provide.

So if you’re not updating your WordPress CMS you may also be slowing and hindering your user experience of the service, so the updates are not just for security reasons but to help keep your website running as smoothly as possible.

Reasons for update – 2 New Features

WordPress is full of some great plugins and features that can be added and customised to your site. If you do not update your WordPress there may be a plugin that may not work correctly, or may not work at all!

How to update you WordPress blog

Currently the latest update for WordPress is 3.2.1. Once you’ve upgraded, the main dashboard will have had a nice, clean makeover making it easier to see all the menu options down the left hand side. The latest design/layout also comes with a lot of new features, again making the update necessary.

Simply just contact your web hosting provider to check that you are currently running the latest version of WordPress 3.2.1.

You can also check yourself by logging into your WordPress account, and going to your dashboard. If your WordPress site does need updating a yellow banner across the top will appear informing you that WordPress needs to be updated.

 

 

Please note however that if your website is run on WordPress but has been customized to your site design, simply just updating from the WordPress admin section may cause issues once the update has been installed. So please contact us here at Bison Grid before you update.

Bison Grid offers a managed hosting service were we not only maintain and backup the servers your website runs on but we will keep your website CMS software up-to-date. The cost for this service is £50 plus VAT per month and includes 1 hour of time for updating and testing additional plugins/modules/widgets that you might have installed. Please note that this does not include CMS software license subscriptions if required to get the CMS software updates. Community edition dotnetnuke (DNN) and WordPress are free of charge.

For a one off update we would estimate £150 plus VAT this would include 1 hour of time for updating additional plugins/modules/widgets that may be installed.

Filed Under: Blog

Microsoft & Google work in partnership for Horatio Investments.

February 13, 2012 By

Working with our digital marketing partner Noisy Little Monkey, BisonGrid built and host the new website for Horatio Investments. The website is already outperforming the client’s expectations and here’s why…

The unique BisonGrid Hybrid CMS (content management system) means that the site benefits from the flexibility and ease of use of a Microsoft .Net based DotNetNuke CMS combined with the SEO (search engine optimisation) performance of WordPress. This means the content of the site always reflects the changing service offering from Horatio Investments, the news is easily updated once per week and with each team member’s bio page featuring their live Twitter feed, the website messages are absolutely up to the minute.

The team at Noisy Little Monkey have worked their SEO magic too – the site ranks highly in Google’s organic search results for generic searches within days of launch. Where it doesn’t rank yet there are highly targeted AdWords campaigns. To help deliver results in the short and medium term Noisy Little Monkey have worked with the team at Horatio Investments to optimise their use of Social Media and trained them on producing content that attracts back links to keep them outperforming the competition on Google and Bing.

Check out the Horatio Investments site and let us know what you think.

Visit the Noisy Little Monkey site for more info on Digital Marketing for SMEs

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ,

Top tips for mobile working & increasing business productivity.

February 13, 2012 By

Are you and your staff getting the most out of mobile technology?

The Benefits of using mobile technology:-

  • Be more responsive:  You can deal with enquires, orders and issues much faster.
  • Be more flexible:  Many entrepreneurs choose to run their own business so it can fit in with their life style and working patterns. Mobile working allows you to work when and where you want.
  • Increased Productivity:  Surveys have shown allowing your staff to work flexibly can improve productivity 15% -30% .

Mobile working tips:-

  • If you use Microsoft office 2010 Home & business or Professional this includes a licence that allows you to install on your desktop and laptop allowing you to cut the cost of using the latest applications.
  • Keep your laptop data safe by Using Microsoft BitLocker and Bison Grid Online Data backup. The loss of your laptop could costs you a lot more than the price of a new PC.
  • Access your Emails, Diary, Contacts and shared files from any location using Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Online Business Productivity Suite (BPOS). BPOS includes Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint. You can also use Microsoft SharePoint web interface with Microsoft Office web apps to view and edit documents using any PC that has access to the internet.
  • Get duplicate power suppliers. Keep one at the office and one at home.
  • Save weight by charging portable devices using USB connections rather than carrying separate chargers.
  • Get a docking station and a mouse for your laptop. So you can turn your laptop in to a desktop when you need to.
  • New Windows Mobile 7 phones synchronise your email, calendar, contacts and SharePoint files. You also get pocket versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Save money on mobile phone charges and subscribe to WIFI hotspot services such as the The Cloud and BT OpenZone.
Filed Under: Blog, BPOS, Cloud Computing, Communications, Data Backup, Mobile Working, Sharepoint Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Microsoft Office 365 coming soon!

February 13, 2012 By

Microsoft recently announced the rebranding and upgrading of the Business Productivity Suite (BPOS) of Cloud services. Currently the BPOS solution includes hosted Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communicator.

Built using Microsoft Exchange 2010 the new Hosted Exchange Online includes enhanced scheduling and out-of-office features with better integration of SharePoint Online. Each account includes 25Gb of storage with antispam and antivirus tools to help protect your network.

The new SharePoint Online uses SharePoint 2010 for developing secure Extranets, websites and web applications. The key features include allowing users to share documents, tasks and calendars, in addition to creating and editing office docs and real-time communication. This latest version supports social features, offline data access and embedded Office applications.

Office communicator is being rebranded Lync Online and includes the Office Communicator and web conferencing tools. Giving users applications for desktop based audio and video collaboration.

In addition to the services above Office 365 will include a subscription to the new Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus suite ensuring users have the latest version of the Microsoft Office Software and benefit from the seamless integration of cloud services.

Pricing and release date are yet to be confirmed but rumours suggest early 2011!

Filed Under: Blog

Why choose Microsoft Exchange Online?

February 13, 2012 By

Messaging is now a mission-critical application for business―but delivering a feature-rich messaging service is challenging. Regulatory requirements are becoming increasingly complex. Merger and divestiture activities require rapid adjustment of service capacity. Good technical expertise is in high demand. And the “buy versus build” economics are changing.

A compelling solution to this challenge is Microsoft® Exchange Online, a Microsoft-hosted enterprise messaging service based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Exchange Online helps deliver the messaging protection your company demands and the anywhere access employees want. Exchange Online leverages our knowledge of Microsoft products, best practices developed with customers and partners, and experience operating Microsoft internal corporate messaging to deliver a world-class, mission-critical service. Microsoft handles setup, provisioning, ongoing maintenance and upgrades of your Exchange Server infrastructure, reducing your team’s IT workload and freeing IT resources to focus on core strategic initiatives that move your business forward.

How It Works

Exchange Online leverages geographically dispersed data centers. Each data center houses a reliable redundant infrastructure needed to support the service. Exchange Online helps simplify IT management by removing customers’ need to deploy, configure, monitor and update/upgrade an e-mail solution on premises. For customers with on-premises Active Directory®, the Directory Synchronization tool helps keep your on- premises and online Active Directories in sync. This enables IT departments to support a mix of users from both the on-premises e-mail server and those using the online service.

Microsoft offers a comprehensive messaging solution with a simple per-user monthly fee. Key features include:

• 25-gigabyte (GB) mailbox allocated for each user
• Shared calendar, contacts, and tasks
• Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 and Outlook 2003 connectivity, including Outlook Anywhere
• POP client connectivity
• Browser-based Outlook Web Access
• Virus/spam filtering via Microsoft Forefront™ Online Security for Exchange
• Push e-mail, calendar, contacts, GAL integration, and tasks for Exchange ActiveSync® enabled devices, including Windows Mobile® 6.0 and above, iPhone 2.0, and many Nokia phones
• Multiple support options for BlackBerry users
• Built-in business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities
• 99.9% scheduled uptime with financially backed service level agreements
• HTTPS connections to help keep Internet access more secure
• Sign In application for single sign-on capability
• Directory Synchronization tool to synchronize on-premise and Microsoft Online Active Directory directory service
• Email coexistence enables customers to maintain both on-premises Exchange Server mailboxes and Exchange Online mailboxes in an integrated email environment.

Filed Under: Blog

Why choose Microsoft Dynamics CRM?

February 13, 2012 By

When it comes to customer relationship management (CRM), communication is key. The ideal CRM solution should streamline the way your people communicate with clients and collaborate with each other. The more comfortable they are with the tools, the more effective they will be at their jobs. And what’s more comfortable than a look and feel you already know?

And with Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s powerful capabilities, like workflow automation and analytics, you can let your sales, marketing and service staff easily share information and route tasks to provide a seamless customer experience.

Why choose a CRM solution from Microsoft?

Empower every employee to boost sales, satisfaction and service with automated CRM software solutions that your people can actually use. Microsoft Dynamics CRM works like and with familiar Microsoft products which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important – your customers.

Filed Under: Blog

What is Microsoft Sharepoint?

February 13, 2012 By

Microsoft SharePoint provides a single, integrated location where team members can efficiently collaborate, find organizational resources, search for information, access applications, manage content and workflow, and leverage business insight to make better-informed decisions. Based on Office SharePoint Server, this Microsoft solution enables employees to easily create and manage custom team and project-focused sites for collaboration, including security-enhanced document sharing. Users get the flexibility and customization they need to truly work efficiently across teams.

SharePoint offers you a comprehensive set of functionality including Collaboration, Search, Content Management, Business Workflow and Forms. Key features include:

• Shared document and meeting workspaces
• Content management features for documents and Web content
• Document libraries with version control
• Seamless integration with Microsoft Office 2007
• Standard templates including wikis, blogs, and surveys
• Custom built work flows, forms and integrated applications
• E-mail alerts when documents or other items have been changed or added to a site
• RSS feeds for SharePoint libraries and lists
• Language support for English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese

Filed Under: Blog, Sharepoint Tagged With:

What is Cloud computing?

February 13, 2012 By

The term Cloud computing comes from how the Internet has traditionally been symbolised in network diagrams and system designs using the image of a Cloud. In short cloud computing is the use of hosted resources located in large secure data centres to provide computer platforms, software, and information to end user devices, like the electricity grid. Cloud technology itself has been defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as follows:

‘Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources… that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three delivery models, and four deployment methods.’

It then gives the essential characteristics as:
• On-demand
• Ubiquitous network access
• Location-independent resource pooling
• Rapid elasticity
• Measured service

Another, more straightforward, example is the cloud as a commercial entity that enables users to purchase computer services and have them delivered as a service online.

Filed Under: Blog, Cloud Computing Tagged With:
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