Are you afraid of new technology disrupting the way you do business? Don’t be. These three tech trends will completely change the way people do business by 2027—And for the better. 

Technology changes, but what it takes to run a successful business never does. The most capable business owners are the ones who have the foresight to adopt new ideas and to adapt to different ways of doing things.

{company} helps our clients use advances in technology to build their companies and to help them reach their personal and business goals. We believe the best way to grow any business is keeping one eye future while working hard today.

We’re living during a time of rapid innovation when it’s close to impossible to catch your breath between each new extraordinary development. Although it’s true that tech trends come and go, we believe these three technologies are here to stay—And they just might change the way you do business five or ten years down the road.

Three Digital Trends That Will Influence Tomorrow’s Business World

• Artificial Intelligence.

Embrace it or fear it, AI is coming—And it’s going to alter everything. Already, AI programs have the capability to beat human players in games like Go and DOTA 2. While that may seem impressive, within the next ten years, the abilities of companies to harness the power of AI is going to be something to behold.

When you hear the term. “AI”, don’t imagine Andrew Martin, the android from “The Bicentennial Man”, or even HAL 9000 from “Space Odyssey. Instead, picture a powerful computer with the capability of self-monitoring and correction. This is the type of AI that will have the ability to increase productivity by completing tasks and helping humans to make better decisions. They will do this in part by analyzing the big data most corporations have been collecting for years—And, AI will do it better and more quickly than any human ever could.

Companies will come to depend on AI to make major (and minor) business decisions from the best way to market products, to making extremely accurate predictions regarding financial markets.

• Augmented and Virtual Reality

Augmented and virtual reality is just now on the cusp of what these technologies will become in the future. Virtual reality (VR) is the technology that most are familiar with–However, augmented reality (AR) holds more promise for businesses.

As you probably already know, VR creates a fully simulated environment by using computers much in the same way as the holodeck from Star Trek. AR. It lets a user see the real, physical world but creates and superimposes images on top of it. A popular example of this technology is the Pokémon GO game.

Within ten years, companies will be able to take advantage of both technologies in a variety of ways. Virtual reality is a natural for immersive training scenarios, virtual meetings, and inspections, or for walking a client through a computer-generated model of a home. Augmented reality will let consumers “see” how they’ll look in an outfit, or if a new sofa will look good in their apartment before ordering it.

However, this technology offers more important capabilities. The real power of AR won’t be completely realized until technicians can use it to guide them through a critical repair, or doctors to perform delicate, life-saving surgeries.

The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) will radically influence almost every aspect of the way large companies do business within the next ten years.

But what is the IoT? It’s a network of physical objects that constantly interact with one another, remotely. These connected objects can be anything from the cell phone you use to start your “smart” coffee maker, to Wifi-enabled chips to keep track of the precise, physical location of inventory items.

The IoT will also allow companies to make better and more timely decisions. This is because it can remotely monitor things. By using the IoT, companies will have access to a constant stream of up-to-date information.  This is thanks to the use of connected sensors and cameras. Whether a business uses this information to decide when to fill up a vending machine or to know when it’s time to do preventive maintenance on an engine, depends on the type of company using it.

The IoT is a marketer’s dream. Using the IoT, businesses will be able to collect enormous amounts of data about the behaviors and preferences of customers from the ways they interact with their connected devices.

The future of business is here. If you want to remain competitive in your market, you should begin to investigate which future technology is best for your particular company.  We can help. To learn more, contact the experts at {company} at: {phone} or {email}

What a Virtual Private Network Is and Isn’t.

Virtual private networks are an understandably complex topic. We shatter all the myths here—Read on so you’re informed.

VPN is an acronym for “virtual private network.” It’s a term that describes a popular way to extend a private network across a public one (like the Internet).

Think of a VPN as a special lane on the highway that only you and your employees can use. You’re still traveling up the Interstate with hundreds or even thousands of other cars— Yet, anything you do in your lane stays safe and secure at all times.

VPNs are essentially like this, just played out across the technological landscape. They’re a fast, efficient and (most importantly) a secure way for you to send and receive information over the Internet without worrying about identifying the information being compromised.

Myth #1: Free VPNs Are Perfect for Your Business.

Perhaps the biggest myth surrounding VPNs is that you shouldn’t have to pay for them because there is a wide range of free options available. When you need a VPN for business use, this is absolutely not the case. Paid VPNs not only offer a higher level of security by way of better encryption, but they also provide faster speeds and larger data allotments.

Myth #2: VPNs Are Too Slow to Use.

Many people think that because VPNs encrypt data at the device level before transmission, they’re too slow to use for most professional purposes. This is only true if you’re talking about a free option. If you’re willing to pay for your VPN service (and you should be) this isn’t an issue because you’ll get priority service.

Myth #3: VPNs Are Too Hard to Use.

Another common misconception is that they’re too hard to use unless you’ve got an advanced level of technical knowledge. This may have been the case at one point, but it isn’t today. While configuring your VPN may take some time, it really isn’t difficult to do. Once you get your service up and running, you won’t have to think about it again. You’ll be able to use the Internet the same way you always have.

Myth #4: VPNs Are Completely Anonymous.

Many people think that because VPNs offer a sophisticated level of data encryption, their online activities are totally anonymous. This isn’t so. While it’s true that 256-bit encryption is difficult to break, it isn’t impossible. Likewise, your VPN provider will keep a log of some or all of your activities for a period of time dictated by the terms of service. You’ll be more anonymous and more protected than ever before, but nothing in life is certain – especially when you’re talking about technology.

Myth #5: All VPNs Are Created Equal.

This is another myth that creates problems, particularly among enterprise users. People think that because all VPNs work in essentially the same way, those VPN providers are all the same. In reality, there are a number of factors that separate one provider from another. Speed, supported platforms, the number of available servers, and price all play significant roles in the quality of the service you’ll receive. As always, it’s best to shop around to ensure you’re teaming with a VPN provider who can meet your needs.

Myth #6: When You Use a VPN, You’re Totally Safe Online.

Unfortunately, a lot of people think that because a VPN offers increased privacy and security, they are totally protected online. Just because you have a VPN doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want online (like clicking on that link in an email from a recipient you’ve never heard of without fear of consequence).

A VPN isn’t a suitable replacement for antivirus software, network protections, and good, old-fashioned common sense. All a VPN does is offer additional protection while you’re online, and allow you to keep some of your activities private. That’s it.

A virtual private network was not, nor will it ever be, designed to keep your browser safe and secure. As a business leader, you should continue to invest in additional training for your employees to prevent costly mistakes that could easily lead to a data breach or other cyber incident.

One thing’s for sure: As privacy and security become more important in today’s fast-paced digital world, technologies like VPNs are going to become more essential. However, at the same time, it’s important to always do your research to make sure you understand what a virtual private network can and cannot do. Only then, do you stand the best chance to stay safe from the types of people who want to do you harm?

If your business is in {city}, and you’d like to find out what type of virtual private networks is best for your purposes, contact {company} at {phone} or {email}.

Nonprofits need tech solutions that work: Here’s how the market is helping out.

Technology and NPOs have always had an interesting relationship: Nonprofits tend to be less impressed customer-focused marketing, and less willing to invest in new long-term technology unless the ROI is visible, preferably with a few industry examples to back it up. However, a technology used correctly can be an advantageous source of savings and efficiency for NPOs, often targeting the very problems they want to get rid of.

The key is finding the latest tech solutions that are having a provable impact on organizations beyond the hype for “the most recent thing.” Let’s take a look at the top trends that impress us the most.

The Cloud Continues to Revolutionize Structure

Cloud data means less dependence on hardware and the enablement of flexible, fast organizations that don’t have to rely on traditional structures when their important data can be anywhere, at any time. This has proven particularly beneficial for NPOs, which tend to prefer more adaptability and more flexible work arrangements including remote work, working from home, scheduling trading, and more. In other words, your data is better off if it can be accessed from the cloud.

The key, however, is finding cloud services that you can trust. It is not a good idea to change your organizational structure based on cloud services without proper encryption and verification. The good news is that professional options like OneDrive and Google Storage have proven to been reliable storage options, and are available free or with discounts for NPOs.

The New Age of Digital Payments

NPOs love digital payments, and for a good reason: They enable immediate payment based on appropriate calls to action that can be connected compelling content or messages, giving donors something to do with their emotions while bringing in funds more reliably. But today’s digital payment options go far beyond the normal PayPal link: Facebook now has an option that allows people to donate while they are still on the social network. YouTube has donation cards that can carry viewers away to an online payment option. Twitter and Snapchat are experimenting with $Cashtags and Snapcash for instant methods of giving away money. Even Gmail has an automatic money transfer option for those you exchange emails with. It’s an exciting time for digital payments, and a good idea to review the latest technology services for nonprofits to see how they are changing.

Chatbots for More Than Just Selling

Chatbots are finally coming into their own, and that includes a lot of interesting applications for non-profits that sometimes have trouble communicating their full mission. For those who haven’t encountered many before, a chatbot is a system that pops open a chat window on a website and offers information or services for visitors. These are automated systems with AI capabilities, so a real person doesn’t need to manage them – they can explain things all on their own, and well-crafted chatbots are skilled at making conversations look as normal as possible.

These days, chatbots are a popular marketing topic and are likely to become ubiquitous as time goes on. You can craft them in Facebook, buy them for your website, and program them for your Skype software. For nonprofits, this means the bot can pop up ready to have a conversation with any visitors about what the nonprofit is, how it works, and what connections it has to local events or news. Since chatbots are already being used to sell products within the app, we also expect to see donation options that the bot can offer interested visitors, increasing funding as well as awareness.

CRM for Donors

Today’s customer relationship management solutions are diverse and, thankfully, much more modular than in the past, allowing organizations to pick out the services they need with the guarantee they are all designed to work together across the same platform. And these vendors have no trouble working with NPOs – after all, a customer and a donor share most things in common when it comes to managing and using data. So a good CRM system can help reach more donors, utilize information more effectively, and create more powerful sales funnel.

One way we’re seeing this benefit today’s donors is via email: While it’s trendy to think of email as an “old” method of communication, it’s actually doing very well on the marketing front – indeed, when it comes to results, good old fashioned emails keep on improving, especially in the mobile sector: Social media remains popular for personal use, but many people just prefer to conduct more professional matters, including donations, through email.. If you don’t have a CRM system set up to take advantage of email messaging, it’s time to consider one.

More Applications for the IoT

The Internet of Things, in abstract, is pretty easy to understanding: A bunch of smart devices send data to their respective services, and we learn more about things while also gaining greater control over the technology around. However, finding specific ways this impacts NPOs is a bit more challenging: However, there’s a ton of potential in the IoT and the ideas currently being tested here are exciting.

Roughly, smart devices for non-profits fall into two different groups. The first is infrastructure: When smart devices can tell you how well concrete pillars are holding up, how much heat buildings are retaining, and how efficiently energy or water are used, then nonprofits become very interested in accessing that data for their reports and fundraising. The second group are sensors that can be used in marketing. For example, we are entirely making up: “Thanks to our new partnership with GeoTesla, every time your car passes a local city park you can choose to automatically donate $1 to our land improvement project!”

App Partnerships

One of the greatest advantages of today’s apps is that they can be created by even small organizations, and they are adaptable enough that any NPO can find a way to use apps. Not sure where they may fit in with your goals or partnerships? Check out some of the more innovative uses of non-profit apps currently at work for ideas. However, app creation requires a lot of cost-benefit analysis and asks quite a lot of donors (when was the last time you wanted to download another app on your phone?). Remember to stay creative!

For more information on our non-profit managed services and other IT services for nonprofits (including consultations on what you need), contact {company} at {email} or {phone}! We can help {city} nonprofits like yours.

Should I Consider the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for My Business?

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is right around the corner—And it’s coming with a number of incredible new features that you’ll definitely want to take advantage of.

To say that Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system is popular is something of an understatement – Particularly as far as adoption rates are concerned. By the end of 2016, Windows 10 was already running on more than 270 million devices around the world. This put it on track to reach one billion users a bit faster than expected!

A large part of this had to do with Microsoft’s massive course correction from the poorly received (yet widely used) Windows 8. After the initial and disastrous launch of the 8 operating system, (and in an effort to fix as many of the flaws as possible) Microsoft responded quickly with Windows 8.1. This was a bit more in line with the previous (and more popular) Windows 7. However, by that time, it was “too little, too late.”

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update—You’re Sure to Like It.

Windows 10 users already received one fairly popular “Creators Update” earlier this year. Another is right around the corner, as the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is set to launch. It brings a number of changes that business users, in particular, are definitely going to applaud.

Expected to launch in October 2017, the Fall Creators Update can be summed up in a single word: “improvements.” This isn’t a “reinvent the wheel” update—And for many, not nearly as drastic as the previous 2017 update that rolled out in May, June and July. It does, however, bring a variety of “under-the-hood” and productivity improvements that are more than worth exploring.

The biggest set of changes involve the Windows Shell, which is the main part of the operating system. Made up of components like the Start Menu, the Taskbar and File Explorer, the new version of the operating system will bring with it the following new enhancements:

• The Action Center that features a more fluent User Interface design, and will share the same acrylic background as the Start Menu.
• A variety of new icons added to the Start Menu.
• The Start Menu that can be resized diagonally – something that we’ve all been clamoring for.
• The ability to resize the Start Menu, particularly horizontally—now a much smoother experience.
• Improved OneDrive integration with File Explorer. It’s now possible to see files that have been saved to the cloud with a new “On-Demand Sync” option.

Microsoft’s Edge browser will also see some much-needed improvement, particularly with the way it handles file compatibility with formats like PDF and EPUB. It’s now possible to “ink” onto PDFs directly within Microsoft Edge.  This prevents the need to download a file and open it in a separate program. You can also see the table of contents from within a PDF, and directly interact with forms within a document. This brings Edge much closer in line to applications like Adobe Reader.

Settings: Some of the most relevant changes for enterprise users come in the way of settings adjustments.

• The “About” area of the “Settings” app has been completely redesigned to display more relevant information and paint a much clearer picture regarding the health of a particular machine.
• “Storage Sense” is also a new feature making its debut. It allows the operating system to automatically delete files in the “Download” folder after a period of 30 days. “Storage Sense” can also be used to automatically delete previous versions of Windows after a successful upgrade has taken place.
• Remote Desktop functionality, now in the “Settings” app, brings it more in line with how you’ll actually interact with this feature.

Updates: Each update file has its own individual progress indicator when downloading and installing – making it easy to see what’s going on “behind the scenes,” and how much time is left before updates are available. There’s also a new “Activity Monitor” that shows comprehensive statistics on downloads, updates and other essential factors that occurred during the previous month.

General Improvements: The Fall Creators Update now allows Windows 10 to run on the ARM64 architecture (Advanced RISC Machine, a family of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architectures for computer processors). This will let you “future proof” your machines in a much more effective way.

Windows is also now “smart” enough to throttle inactive programs, which should go a long way towards generating incremental performance improvements across the board.

Cortana, Microsoft’s Siri-like voice assistance, will also support dedicated speaker devices – something that should improve compatibility with peripheral hardware, and address certain accessibility concerns that some had in the past.

Our Advice? –-You Should Definitely Consider Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for Your Business. 

Windows 10 has come a long way since its original release, especially in terms of the productivity and collaborative benefits that it can bring to enterprise users in particular. For a company still struggling to recover from the lukewarm reception to operating systems like Windows 8 (and the outright disaster of Windows Vista), the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update proves that Microsoft is willing to listen to the people who matter the most of all: its users.

If you’d like to find out more information about the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update—Or for answers to your IT questions—Contact {company} at {phone} or {email}. We’re {city}’s trusted, IT Managed Service Providers.

Is Your Business Lacking the Productivity You Want?  If so, Look to Office 365.

I’ve said it before, and will again (because you’ll thank me once I’ve convinced you)—Microsoft Office 365 increases productivity. With cloud-based collaboration, your employees can use work efficiently as a team wherever they are.

Your success is directly related to its productivity, especially in today’s fast-paced world. If your employees don’t work productively as they should, your competitors will outpace you—Microsoft Office 365 has become the norm for small businesses today, including your competitors.

Office 365 Makes Collaborating Easy.

Working with Office 365 improves the how your teams collaborate. (We use it for our business, and what a difference it’s made.)  Multiple employees can collaborate in real time. They can use Yammer on their computers or any other device to keep up to date on the company’s latest news and current activities.

Try One Drive for Business or SharePoint, and let your employees easily share documents with each other while still preventing unauthorized access or changes. OneNote makes it convenient for staff members to leave notes and feedback for group projects, and Skype for Business makes one-to-one video chats, and even large meetings possible at the click of a button.

Microsoft Office 365 helps your employees work together on projects in real time, exchange files and documents, and to do so securely and easily no matter where they are.

Painlessly Manage Upgrade Costs.  

Technology is changing at a rapid pace, and keeping your business up-to-date with the latest systems can feel like a never-ending uphill climb. However, Microsoft’s flexible and scalable subscription model allows you to deploy only the licenses you need.

Previous models required the purchase of new licenses, ongoing installation, and upgrades that couldn’t be managed remotely.  This resulted in a confusing mishmash of different releases within various business departments.

Plus, software upgrades in past iterations of productivity software required significant upfront investments. Not so with Office 365—You can spread the costs over a longer period of time, making the overall upgrade more affordable for businesses of all sizes.

With Office 365, your employees automatically receive upgrades along with new functionality that helps them work more efficiently.

Your Employees Will Benefit from Multi-Device Compatibility.

Small businesses are notorious for using a variety of platforms based on employee requests and requirements—This makes it challenging to successfully deploy traditional software models.

With the flexible deployment model of Office 365, a single license covers up to five devices at one time, with the ability to switch a license quickly as needed.

Even better, the type of device used no longer matters—The same license you use for a Mac can also be used for a Microsoft Surface, iPhone or iPad. When employees are firm believers in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and can work with their chosen devices, productivity skyrockets.

Enhance Your Customers’ Experience with Office 365.

Understanding the needs of your customers is a primary driver in today’s hyper-connected world. When your service reps can interact with prospects at the time, and in the fashion they want, they’re much more likely to connect with them.

Collaboration tools like Skype and Yammer allow you to message your customers in real time. Quickly spin up a video meeting or a chat to resolve their problems or concerns.

Plus, your teams will be more productive with tools like Exchange and SharePoint to manage, store, organize and search for documents their customers need.

Office 365 Provides Flexible Plans to Meet Your Needs.

Microsoft Office 365 pricing starts at an incredibly low entry point per employee, and can be scaled up to allow for even the largest enterprise deployment. There are seven versions of Office 365 to choose from, while keeping operating costs under control.

What’s even better is that there’s no need to use business apps if your team already has a solution in place. This low entry point allows you to selectively implement exactly the right solutions to meet your requirements.

For example, if you want to move to a Microsoft-centric webinar platform, but still have several months left on a prior contract, you won’t be forced to buy your way out of your previous contract. Instead, you can treat the platform as a scaled rollout and implement additional functionality as needed.

Take Advantage of Real-Time Analytics with Office 365.

Microsoft’s Power BI is one of the most comprehensive suites of analytics visualizations on the market today. And, the self-service business intelligence functionality allows your employees to weave together disparate data sources to create a compelling story about the work they’ve completed.

Perhaps one of the least-understood platforms available to smaller businesses, Power BI provides a means for effective decision making without the effort required to implement traditional sales cubes or Big-Data platforms.

A key reason for implementing Microsoft Office 365 solutions is to remove the barriers between your employees and the technology they need to do great work at any time. Having a subscription-based productivity suite provides you with the latest collaboration tools to drive business advances while keeping costs at a minimum.

We benefit from Microsoft Office 365, and so will you. Feel free to contact us with any questions you have.

{company}

{phone} {email}

Work with the professionals at {company} to leverage the power of Microsoft Office 365.  We’ll ensure it improves your productivity and efficiency.  

As an active member of the Australian business community, the Inspired IT team knows how important it is to grow and develop as a business as time goes by – and we’re doing just that. Even though we’ve only been in business since 2016, we’re already moving to a brand new space!

Thanks to our ongoing success and subsequent expansion as a business, Inspired IT has moved to a new location in Osborne Park, and our team could not be more excited. This new office has access to a pool, gym, and tennis court, as well as a cafe that serves Friday afternoon drinks – great for socializing and getting to know each other better. This shared office space also offers vital new resources, such as a support staff, and an exciting community of over 40 other like-minded, growing businesses to work with. This new office space at Osborne Park opened just last month, so it offers a modern and professional setting for the Inspired IT team to grow in as we enter this new chapter as a business.

But enough about us, what does this move mean for our clients? Not to worry, we’ll still be offering the same vital IT services that Australian businesses located in the Perth area are looking for.

As Microsoft Silver Partners, we can outfit businesses like yours with industry leading business productivity solutions from Microsoft.

Microsoft is the best choice for almost all daily work in the office, whether it’s Microsoft Word for document processing, Microsoft Outlook for email or Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets, so why not get the most out of those services? Microsoft Office 365 connects each and every Microsoft application with the Cloud, which makes accomplishing your tasks more convenient and user-friendly.

As the leading name in Cloud business productivity software, Microsoft Office 365 has a range of services and features designed to help you and your employees do more each day. While the entire suite of office applications includes software to help each aspect of your business, a few notable benefits of Microsoft Office 365 include:

• 99.9% Uptime Guaranteed: Inspired IT can ensure minimal unexpected downtime or inconveniently planned maintenance, allowing you and your employees to work efficiently and without delay.
• Email and Calendar, On The Go: With Microsoft Outlook, you can seamlessly integrate your calendar features directly into your email, so that scheduling a meeting, responding to invites and keeping track of your upcoming appointments is that much simpler.
• Comprehensive Availability: Microsoft Office 365 provides an undeniably convenient end user experience. You can access your own Microsoft Office 365 configuration with ease, via browser login on any Internet capable device, the Outlook web app for email and calendar access, or simply at Office.com.

As a Certified Silver Microsoft Partner, you can trust Inspired IT to make your migration to Microsoft Office 365 seamless and simple. Our team of Microsoft Office 365 experts will provide you with many benefits in your Microsoft experience, including:

• Simple Transition: Inspired IT can smooth your migration to Microsoft Office 365 services with industry-leading practices. With our help, you can be sure that no email, file, or calendar event is missing from your newly configured setup.
• Sensible fees: Due to the very nature of cloud computing, there is almost no up-front capital required to pay for any physical hardware or the space to store it. Furthermore, pay-as-you-go pricing offers both predictability and flexibility in your budgeting process.
• Convenience: Microsoft Office 365 helps you keep content, meetings, and contacts synced across all your devices for use on the go when you’re away from the office.

We know many businesses in Osborne Park are looking for a way to trim expenses and our team is almost certain that technology has crossed your mind as a possibility on more than one occasion. The fact is that now is the time to invest in the right business technology systems, trim some of the fat and find the right solutions to help you prepare for when the market rebounds, because you must be ready when it does.

Inspired IT is lending Osborne Park businesses a helping hand.

Microsoft Office 365 is an affordable solution to help remove unnecessary technology costs from your IT expenses. Not only is Microsoft Office 365 secure, extremely reliable and backed by a large company, it is also amazingly affordable.

You can say goodbye to those costly Exchange Servers and the costly support bills needed to keep them up and running. Microsoft Office 365 means no more Microsoft Office upgrades every few years. It will even replace the expensive old business telephone system you have in the back room.

Want to learn more about what Microsoft can do for your Perth business? Get in touch with Inspired IT at {phone} or {email} right away.

G-Suite is Google’s new cloud-based collection of business applications. Should you make the switch from Office 365 Business?

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with Microsoft’s Office 365 Business. However, after hearing about the recent updates to Google’s G Suite, (formerly Google Apps for Work) I had to take a closer look. After all, I owe it to my clients to find out if there’s something better out there.

What is Office 365 Business?

Office 365 Business is a collection of cloud-based applications for easy for companies to easily create, collaborate and keep their business running smoothly. Office 365 Business comes in three different versions: Regular, Premium and Essentials. The annual subscription costs from $5 to $12.50 per user, per month.

Each version of Office 365 Business offers a selection of popular applications. For this comparison, I decided to look at the most complete version, the Office 365 Business Premium (which costs $12.50 monthly per user with a yearly commitment, or $15 per month without a contract).

What is G Suite?

G Suite is the rebranding of the Google Apps for Work suite of applications, and is very similar in concept to Office 365 Business. Most of the apps included are new versions of the company’s old favorites. Like Office 365 Business, there’s more than one version of G Suite you can choose from. G Suite comes in Basic and Business, which costs subscribers either $5 or $10 per month, per user, respectively. There’s also an Enterprise version, however, the price isn’t available on Google’s website.

Unlike Office 365 Business, all of G Suite’s plans offer access to every major application. The difference is that the Business version offers more storage and better search functions. For this comparison, I will use the G Suite Business plan which costs $10 per month per user, per month, and doesn’t include a discount for an annual plan.

Comparison Results

Apps for Creating

• Office 365 Business Premium offers extremely well-known and popular web versions of their business application which many workers have experience using. This familiarity saves time for your employees to learn, and lets new hires be productive from the first day on the job. The package includes:
  • Word for documents.
  • Excel for spreadsheets.
  • PowerPoint for presentations.
  • OneNote for storing information.
  • Publisher (PC only) for layout design.
  • Access (PC only) for databases

Although G Suite provides subscribers popular apps that were previously available from Google, many employees have never used them before. This means more training time. The applications G Suite provides for creating include:

• Docs for documents.
• Sheets for spreadsheets.
• Slides for presentations.
• Keep for storing information.
• Forms for creating interactive surveys and forms.
• Sites for building simple websites

While both Office 365 Business Premium and G Suite offer apps to help users accomplish similar tasks, the Office 365 Business Premium apps feel much more established and better thought out. Word can handle longer and more complex documents than Docs, and Sheets doesn’t even come close to the robustness of Excel. PowerPoint makes it much easier than G Suite’s Slide to both create a presentation and present it. Keep feels like a light version of OneNote, however, some users may prefer its overall simplicity.

Each service also offers unique apps.

• Office 365 Business Premium gives PC users Access and Publisher.

Access is a decent database creation and management tool. Publisher is a simplified desktop-publishing application that lacks the power of many other commercial desktop publishing programs. However, it’s acceptable for laying out in-house documents.

• G Suite’s Forms allows you to create interactive forms and surveys and send them via email, or upload to a website. It also provides the tools required to analyze the results. While not as powerful as similar stand-alone software, it is a nice app. Sites is a website-creation tool that appears as an out-of-date afterthought.

Apps for Collaboration

Office 365 Business Premium is great for helping employees work better and faster with collaborative apps. A subscription includes:

• Outlook for emails.
• Skype For Business for text, voice, video chatting and meetings.
• Microsoft Teams for group chats.
• Yammer for helping groups work smarter.

G Suite has its own software solution for collaboration that includes:

• Gmail for emails.
• Hangout Meets for video, voice chatting and meetings.
• Google+ for helping teams work smarter.
• Jamboard an interactive whiteboard.

When it comes to email services, both G Suite and Outlook provide comprehensive solutions that are well matched.

• Power users will appreciate G Suite’s unlimited email storage limit, but Outlook provides a more than adequate 50 GB of storage per account.
• Skype For Business is vastly better than Hangout Meets since it allows 250 people to join a meeting. That’s ten times the number allowed in Hangout Meets. In addition, most users find the video and voice quality better with Skype.
• Many people are confused about the differences between Yammer and Microsoft Teams. Both serve similar functions to facilitate collaboration, but they do so in different ways. Microsoft Teams is similar to Slack, while Yammer is more like a traditional BBS. No matter which you prefer, both are better than Google+.
• Jamboard is basically an interactive whiteboard that some may find useful.

Apps for Keeping Things Organized

• Microsoft’s OneDrive is a popular file-sharing and storage platform. Office 365 Business Premium offers 1 TB of data storage which should be enough for most. When a business purchases five or more licenses, all users gain unlimited storage.
• G Suite offers their subscribers Drive, with the same deal that Office 365 Premium provides. It offers 1 TB of data for companies with fewer than five licenses. After five licenses, all users get unlimited data storage.

There’s not much difference between the two storage solutions.

All in all, Office 365 Business Premium still seems to be the better deal. The only drawback is that it’s slightly more expensive than G Suite. But, in my opinion, the price difference doesn’t seem like a good reason to switch.

For help determining what software packages best meet your business’ unique needs, contact the IT experts in {city} at {company}.  We’ll be happy to provide a complimentary business-app assessment.  {phone} {email}

A discussion of how to best go about taking complicated IT concepts and communicating them to your team in the right way.

The world of information technology is something of a natural contradiction. On the one hand, the resources that we depend so heavily on are designed to make our lives simpler, not more complex. They’re intended to allow us to work smarter, not harder. To do that, they need to be accessible to everyday people — both those who have devoted a lifetime of education to the topic and those who haven’t.

Yet at the same time, IT professionals find themselves awash in a world of highly technical terms and acronyms that describe incredibly complex subjects. Again, being able to properly utilize those IT resources requires an infrastructure that is aligned with your long-term strategy, but oftentimes this level of technicality can keep most people at a distance.

Luckily, communication skills will come in handy when operating in the IT space — just not necessarily in the way you may have thought. If you really want to learn how to communicate IT concepts in the easiest way possible to those who may not be experts, there are a few key things to keep in mind.

Understand Your Audience

In many ways, the secret to effective communication involves knowing who you’re speaking to and adapting to their capacity — regardless of whether you’re talking about IT, science, mathematics or some other complicated topic. If you’re speaking to a tech-based audience, naturally you would be able to get away with some of the jargon that keeps others at a distance.

If you’re speaking to a non-technical audience, put things in terms of what they can do, not what they are. For example, don’t talk about the finer points of a server, breaking down the detailed technical specifications as precisely as you can. Talk instead about what that server does — how it changes their lives, makes things easier and the very real value that it provides. Your audience may not know how a server works at the end of your conversation, but they will know how it is about to change their lives and why it is so important.

Get Comfortable With Metaphors and Analogies

One of the best ways to take complicated IT concepts and distil them down into something more easily accessible for novices is to use metaphors and analogies when explaining certain key ideas. If you were trying to tackle a topic like the internet of things, for example, you wouldn’t necessarily describe the billions of connected devices that are designed to make up this concept over the course of the next few years. You wouldn’t talk about complicated sensors and other elements all creating, sending and receiving data among themselves at all times.

Instead, you might focus in on something that is a point of reference in their lives — a more easily accessible idea like a thermostat that automatically learns your schedule and starts adjusting the temperature of your home based on the time of day and when you’re going to get home from work. Start simple with something that matters to them and build out to the broader and more complicated implications of the concept from there.

Explain, Explain and then Explain Some More

Another helpful way to explain complicated topics to non-IT people — which also works for explaining any other highly technical idea — is to get to the same destination in as many different ways as you can. Remember that everyone is a little bit different. Some people grasp new ideas right away, while others will require a bit of extra love and care.

If there are two different ways to explain something, don’t pick one or the other. Instead, use both. If there are eight different ways to explain an IT concept, that’s even better. Though it may feel like overkill to you, remember that you’re the one who already grasps the concept — not the person you’re speaking to. At some point, something is going to stick and both parties will be much better off because of it.

Lean Into Pop Culture to Make IT Sound Fun

Finally, another useful way to take a complex idea and present it to a non-technical audience is to rely on pop culture and other types of references to make it memorable, relatable, and most importantly, fun.

Think back a few years ago to the debut of the iPad. Though Apple’s tablet may seem commonplace today, it was a totally foreign concept to many people when it originally debuted. A lot of people didn’t really understand the broader implications of it or what allowed it to be more than just a giant iPhone.

Explaining how a tablet fits into your workflow may be difficult when someone has just, minutes earlier, learned what a tablet is, but with pop culture you can do the next best thing. What is an iPad if not one of the communicator devices from Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi classic “Star Trek”? Or how about that scene in “Minority Report” in which Tom Cruise is hiding on a subway train and he spots a man reading a digital newspaper that he’s controlling entirely through touch?

Points of reference for modern day IT concepts and items exist all throughout popular culture. You should try to use them as a bit of a “common starting point” whenever you can. If someone understands your pop culture reference, terrific — you now have something to build from to introduce them to the more technical IT concepts with relative ease.

IT concepts can often seem overwhelming and insurmountable — but if you approach things from the right direction, getting everyone on the same page doesn’t have to be nearly as difficult as certain people often make it. If you’re in {city} and would like to find out more information about these or other essential IT concepts, please don’t delay. Contact {company} today by phone at {phone} or by sending an email to {email}.

Part of what allows the Inspired IT team to offer clients top notch IT support services and support, is a focus on keeping up with the latest advancements and innovations in the world of technology. Our staff is constantly learning new tools and tricks we can then pass along to the businesses we work with, helping them to get the most out of their technology by offering more efficient ways to make use of that technology.

With that said, bringing new and exciting options to the table doesn’t necessarily mean discovering something entirely new. Often it’s as simple as mastering the technology staples that our clients already count on and working directly with vendors to make sure we stay on top of everything those staples have to offer. Striving to stay up-to-date on the solutions your business needs to function successfully is why our technicians put forth the effort to earn new certifications that enhance the work they do, and why we pride ourselves on the certifications and partnerships we hold.

When it comes to technology staples, there is probably no solution more universally used than those offered by Microsoft. With the launch of Office 365, Microsoft Office and its numerous programs and applications are more integral than ever to the day-to-day operations of most businesses. Which is why Inspired IT is proud to be a Microsoft Partner.

Specifically, we are a Microsoft Partner Silver Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions certified IT provider. This status grants us access to additional support benefits that we are then able to pass along to our clients, such as a greater ability to build and deploy new cloud-based workloads and apps. By ensuring that our team has access to the very best resources and support for the products we work with, we’re able to improve the level of support we can offer to your business.

Because we are a Cloud Competency Partner, our technicians are able to do more to help businesses modernize their existing IT infrastructure. We can build, host, and maintain cloud-based solutions, migrate applications and data to the cloud, and offer both SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) through Microsoft Azure – one of the leading names in cloud-based technology solutions.

This competency certification also makes it easier for us to help clients obtain and manage Microsoft licensing for a range of Microsoft products and services, which allows for your business to take full advantage of the latest Microsoft innovations without the hassle that can come with getting started with a new solution. You’ll always be up-to-date, and you’ll always have access to expert technology support exactly when you need it.

Want to learn more about the benefits of working with an IT provider that is a certified Microsoft Partner? Contact Inspired IT at {email} or {phone} today. We’re the Microsoft experts businesses in {city} trust.