The phone is the desktop

This is the sixth part of my presentation “Making money from the cloud”. You can find the full slides at:

and the previous parts are at:

A sure sign that technology beliefs are rooted in the past is believing that desktops and servers are the most important user devices in a business. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth as mobile devices, predominately phones but also tablets, continue to dominate the IT market.

The next wave of Internet adoption and opportunity will not come from places such as Australia and the US, it will come from places like India, China and Africa. It will come thanks to the growing accessibility of smart phones and mobile Internet access. The multiplication effect of Internet access across these large populations will be unprecedented.

However, even in places like Australia that already have high mobile penetration, look at how often people upgrade their phones. Most last no more than twelve months before they are relegated to the scrap heap. Why? Because, like early PCs, we are still at the dawn of what hardware can do for mobile devices. Faster processors, more memory, better screens, etc. are driving the turnover of mobile devices as people seek a better experience and, importantly, as people use their mobile devices more and more as their primary device to access the Internet.

With that in mind, ask yourself, how mobile friend is my business? How embracing is my business when it comes to mobile technology. Are we making a centre piece of our strategy to enable employees to work where they want and when they want? Or are we still ignoring the fact that our employees are using their phone with corporate data in a way that maybe inappropriate to our organisational needs?

Good employees desire the ability to work where and when suits them. They want to be able to drop their kids off at school in the morning as well as pick them up. They want to be able to run that small errand during the day. They want to be able to choose the environment that makes them most productive and for many (including myself) that is not an office. Mobile devices allow them to achieve all this and still remain productive. It allows them to continue working for the business while suiting themselves. Good employees are beginning to demand these conditions and smart businesses are enabling it to attract and retain the best talent.

The importance of the mobile device can easily be illustrated. Let’s say that you are in presentation session filled with people you don’t particularly know. How many of you would be comfortable unlocking your phone and handing to someone else randomly? Most people would be far from comfortable in doing that. Why? Because their mobile is now their identity. It has all their contacts, messages, notes, access to financial institutions and so on. It is such an important piece of what constitutes a person in today’s digital age that it should be given the respect it deserves.

A majority of Internet based transactions are now taking place via mobile devices. We are seeing the growth of mobile payment platforms thanks to Apple and Google. Doing things any other way is beginning to introduce more and more friction in the sales process. More friction simply means less sales, so smart businesses are embracing mobile payments as way to maintain but also attract new customers.

However, one of the things that doesn’t change when it comes to corporate mobile devices is the need for control. Security and compliance of information is still a requirement for most businesses no matter where their information is accessed from. In a world where information can be accessed from anywhere a new set of challenges arises as devices are no longer within the four walls of a business. In a world where your device is your identity, what protections do you have in place to protect information you are unwilling to openly share with others as illustrated previously? Although the mobile devices is something most ‘can’t live without’ few take any steps to protect actually it.

My experience is currently that few end user mobile devices have any sort of management at all. This is strange in a world where products like Office 365 include basic mobile device management out of the box. I think the main reason is that IT Professionals are lagging in their knowledge and acceptance of these mobile trends. The worm has turned and customers are now adopting technology at a much faster rate than IT Professionals, many of whom are still land locked with outdated concepts and beliefs of how technology is used.

The limited number of mobile devices currently under management should immediately raise the opportunity and threat flags for someone with a business mindset. The opportunity is clear. To focus on offering the ability to manage devices for businesses in a market where there is currently little competition. The risk is that if you don’t do it for your customers or users then you are vulnerable to your competition coming in and doing for them and potentially pushing you out as a provider in total.

Our modern technology world is ruled by mobile devices and this will only continue to grow. It is time for IT Professionals to embrace the changing landscape of mobility and provide the necessary security and compliance services they have always provided to keep business information secure. They have the experience, they simply need the skills. Services like Office 365 already provides these mobile device management tools, it simply comes down to implementing them.

Embracing mobility is the key to success going forward for both businesses and IT Professionals. It will provide yet another differentiation point between the old and new worlds with those who ‘get it’ reaping the benefits.

My tech books

As much as business books are the mainstay of helping you grow a business, I would assert that there is a place for good fiction and non fiction as a way of expanding what is possible and what we may see with technology in the future. Form such ideas, opportunities flow.

Below is a list of tech (both fiction and non-fiction) that I have really enjoyed and recommend to anyone interested in technology and the impact it may play in our lives down the track.

You can follow all the books I read and want to read over at Goodreads where I have an account. You can also view my activity via:

https://www.goodreads.com/director_cia

or just follow me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/ciaops

1. Daemon – Daniel Suarez [Fiction]

A glimpse into the future of where drones and augmented reality may take us. That may not necessarily be a good place either.

2. Freedom TM – Daniel Suarez [Fiction]

A follow up to Daemon. What happens when technology dominates the world? Who benefits?

3. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline [Fiction]

Much like the Matrix. What is life like if you live inside the machine? You can be just about anyone you choose. I also love this book for all the retro technology that was part of my life. TRS-80 anyone?

4. Future Crimes: Inside the Digital Underground and the Battle for our Connected World – Marc Goodman [Non-fiction]

Technology will ultimately doom us all I believe because we are building our world on stuff that unfortunately places a low regard for security and privacy. This book will show you why that is a road to ruination.

5. Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon – Kim Zetter [Non-Fiction]

If you don’t believe cyber warfare is real then read this book to understand how software is now a weapon as potentially devastating as any nuclear device.

6. Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World – Bruce Schneier [Non-Fiction]

Security is important but it is important in context. We need to be rational when we consider our security not emotional. A great level headed approach to how we need to be secure.

7. Trojan Horse – Mark Russinovich [Fiction]

Yet another book on IT security. Love this stuff because it is so interesting and so relevant I believe to our future. A more contemporary book on technology security and its impacts.

8. The Cuckoos Egg – Clifford Stoll [Non-Fiction]

Before the Internet was in the public sphere it existed in the world of academia. This is the story of how one man’s search for the source of an accounting error uncovered something are more sinister.

9. Takedown – John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura [Non-Fiction]

The pursuit and eventual capture of notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick makes for great reading.

10. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution – Steven Levy [Non-Fiction]

Ah, the good ole days when it was more about proving how smart you were than trying to actually cause harm. If you think hacking is something new, then you’re in for a surprise with this book.

My business books

This is an updated list of business books that have made a big impact on me and I believe will also on others. I do read a lot of books and it takes something pretty special to break into this top 10, so list doesn’t change a whole lot. I thoroughly recommend each and every one of these books as an absolute must read for anyone and especially anyone running a business.

You can follow all the books I read and want to read over at Goodreads where I have an account. You can also view my activity via:

https://www.goodreads.com/director_cia

or just follow me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/ciaops

Here’s my current top 10 in order:

1. The Art of War – Sun Tzu

The all time classic on strategy. As relevant today as it ever was. A very short read but very deep.

2. The Millionaire Fastlane – M.J. DeMarco

I love the brutal honesty of this book. It doesn’t mince words about what it takes to shift from a pay check to actually living the life you want.

3. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

The world is all about not what you know but who you know. This book explains exactly how this works and how to use it to your advantage.

4. The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss

Many people believe this book is about shirking responsibility. It is in fact a blueprint for how to free up your time to do things you want and enjoy. It will challenge the way you look at your career.

5. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth – T. Harv Eker

The successful are defined by a different mindset. This mindset can be learned. It can be trained. This is a great book to show you how to do just that.

6. Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even If You Hate Marketing and Selling – Michael Port, Tim Sanders

You can’t survive in business without a steady flow of customers. Selling to people is the wrong approach, you instead need to attract them to your business. This book helps you achieve exactly that.

7. Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level – Mark Divine

Another mindset book. Business is not always going to be easy or take the intended route. This is when you need to have the determination to see your plans through to success. This book shows you how to develop the mental toughness to make this happen.

8. The E-Myth – Michael Gerber

The classic on ‘procedurising’ your business and creating a structure that doesn’t need you to survive. The simple secrets inside this book can transform any business from hardship to joy.

9. Profit First: A Simple System To Transform Any Business From A Cash-Eating Monster To A Money-Making Machine – Mike Michalowicz

Business is about making a profit. This then gives you the freedom to do what you want with that profit. This book helps you focus on profit and setting up systems to make the most of the profit you generate.

10. Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss

There are few books that take the learnings for so many exceptional people and puts them at your fingertips. This is one such book that packs a lot of business and life learnings between the covers.

These books make my top 10 list because I have read them all multiple times and continue to do so. No matter how many times I read them I always get something from them. There are of course many others I’d suggest you read but I don’t think you’ll go far wrong by starting with the above 10.

Let me know what you think. Do these work for you? What’s your top 10? I’d love to hear.

My apps

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m really not a big apps guy. I test a lot of apps but in reality few hold my attention or become part of my daily routine. These however do.

Podcast Addict – for all my podcasts. Easy to use, listen and update.

Google Authenticator – used to provide two factor authentication for access to Google accounts as well as for Lastpass password manager.

Android auto – connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts (via Podcast Addict) as well as use Google Maps for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

Office Lens – available on all platforms. Allows capturing of information such as documents, whiteboards, etc to OneNote. I have written about the importance of this app previously:

A mobile device must have

Fitbit – for tracking my fitness stats. I am generally most interested in tracking my sleep progress but also aim to get 10,000 steps a day done.

Tripview – One of the few apps that I have happily paid for. I use this to let me know the Sydney train schedule to help me get around when I need to negotiate the ‘real world’.

Swarm – for reporting my location to Facebook and Twitter. Combined with Foursquare this allows me to keep track of where I have been, when. Also, by making my location publically available to others, I’m encouraging them to catch up with me when I’m local.

Audible – If I can’t read my Kindle then I can normally always listen. This app allows me to listen to my audio books where ever I am.

Amazon Kindle – If I don’t have access to my Kindle then I can still read my books. In my case that will most likely be on my iPad. I also use the Kindle app on the iPad when the ebook has a lot of images that sometime don’t display well or are too small for the Kindle device.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably the SharePoint, OneDrive and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device.

I use the Microsoft Next Lock Screen on my Android device.

Like I said, there are plenty of other apps I use now and then on different platforms but the above ones I typically use across all platforms an/or use them everyday. That’s why they make this list.

Enabling your Office 365 Azure AD access

Many don’t realise that Office 365 identity is built on top of Azure Active Directory. This means that every Office 365 tenant is using Azure Active Directory. What many also don’t realise is that you can easily access the Azure Active Directory by simply enabling it from your Office 365 Admin console. Here’s how you do this.

Navigate to the Office 365 Admin, in this case by selecting the Admin icon from the app launcher.

In the lower left of this window, under the Admin section, you should find the Azure AD link as shown above. Select this.

You’ll now be taken to a screen like that shown above, where you sign up to Azure.

You’ll need to enter your details (name, email, country, etc). You’ll also need to specific a mobile phone which a verification code can be sent to.

Once all the details are entered and you have complete the verification via mobile phone select the Sign up button.

You’ll notice here that you don’t need to put in any credit card details like you do when you sign up for a free trial. This is because you are getting the free Azure Active Directory Edition only.

You’ll see your request begin to process.

After a short while you should see a screen like that shown above. You can see that what you have signed up for is Access to Azure Active Directory.

It will take a few minutes to complete the provisioning.

When processing is complete you’ll see the above screen. Select the Start managing my service link to proceed.

You should then see the new Azure Resource management portal as shown above.

If you look in the billing area of this tenant you will see that you have no subscriptions as shown above. You can of course add a paid subscription to this to enable all the other Azure features. This is in fact the recommended way to deploy Azure IaaS services for SMB I would suggest. Office 365 first, and then add a paid Azure subscription to that free Azure tenant you get as part of Office 365. That way all the users and resources are in one location. Even if you plan to do Azure IaaS initially, always get an Office 365 subscription first. All you need is a single Exchange Online Plan 1 Kiosk license for around AU$3 to get the Azure tenant.

The only area that you can configure currently is the Azure Active Directory.

In there you should now see a list of your Office 365 users.

You can administer and work with tenant users from Azure or Office 365 (as well as PowerShell in both environments).

So you have now enabled the free Azure Active Directory Edition that comes as part of every Office 365 subscription. To read more about the different Azure Active Directory Editions see:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn532272.aspx

You’ll also find the Microsoft documentation on this here:

My software and services

Previously, I detailed the hardware that I used in my work:

My gear

In this article I’ll look at the software and services I use most.

To start with, I use Windows 10 professional on all my desktop machines and Windows Storage Server 2008 on my WD Sentinel DX4000 NAS. I have upgraded all my immediate families machines to Windows 10 without any issues as well. We are therefore a Windows 10 family through and through.

Unsurprisingly, I used Office 365 for things such as a email, OneDrive for Business, Skype, Office desktop software and the like. What maybe somewhat surprising is that, although I have access to a free Office 365 tenant from Microsoft as a partner, I don’t use this in production. I have a completely separate paid tenant for my business.

Why is that, you may ask? The main reason is that I use my Microsoft Office 365 tenant for demonstrations and testing. I don’t want production data appearing when I do demos to customers and prospects. Having to two separate tenants means complete separation of the data.

I of course use all the standard Microsoft Office desktop software such as Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc however, the key application from the suite for me is OneNote. OneNote is my go to Swiss Army knife for just about everything digital. I use it to capture all sort of data. I even use it as a diary as I have detailed previous here:

One of the ways I use OneNote

The reason OneNote is key is because:

1. Just about everything I put in there us searchable

2. It is freely available across all platforms.

3. All my information is synced and accessible on all devices.

4. It is available on the web or offline if needed.

Another key service I use everyday along with Office 365 and OneNote is Azure. Typically, I use it for running up virtual machines that I test various things with but I also use it to backup my local data as well as that of other members of my family using Azure Backup.

Azure desktop backup

There is just so much that can be done with Azure. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I could use it for. I see Azure becoming a larger and large part of what I do every day.

I use Lastpass to keep my passwords and private information secure. It allows me to do things like generate and store unique passwords for each website that I sign up for. It is also available across all browsers on my machine (including Microsoft Edge).

For a subset of my local data that I wish to remain secure I use Truecrypt to create encrypted volumes. All my my Windows 10 machines run with full disk encryption thanks to Bitlocker, but stuff like financial and customer data I keep inside Truecrypt volumes for that extra layer of security. I understand that Truecrypt is no longer maintained and may have some very minor security flaws, but for how and why I use it, it is more than adequate.

To capture my desktop for my online training academy or my YouTube channel I use Camtasia.

To compose and publish blog articles I use Open Live Writer.

To keep track of where I spend my time on my desktops I use RescueTime.

For improved email productivity I use Microsoft FindTime and Boomerang.

For chat and web meetings I use Skype for Business from Office 365. I encourage anyone to connect up to me via my address = admin@ciaops365.com. Chat is generally always faster at resolving things than traditional email.

For protection, apart from the standard Windows 10 tools, I use Malware Bytes.

Inside my browsers I typically have the following plugins:

– Lastpass which provides automated insertion of web site credentials.

– Nosili which provides productivity enhancement thanks to background sounds. My favourite is rain.

– Pushbullet which connects alerts from my Android phone to my dekstop browser and allow me to share information easily between them.

– GetPocket which allows me to save and categorise websites URLs, which I then typically read at a later time. Has its own dedicated mobile that I can use on any device.

– The Great Suspender which puts unused tabs in Chrome to ‘sleep’ to save memory.

I use the automation sites If This Then That and Zapier to automate many different tasks. A good example of one of these is automatically publishing to various social media sites.

For my Office 365 and Azure email newsletters I use Mailchimp.

My preferred public social networks for business, in order are:

1. Twitter

2. Linkedin

3. Facebook

I also use Yammer extensively but for more specialised roles and thus don’t consider it really a ‘public’ social network, more a private one.

YouTube is also something I use daily for business and pleasure. It use for both education and marketing as well as entertainment, thanks largely to the XBox YouTube app. Just wish they’d hurry up and bring the Amazon Prime Video app to the Xbox here in Australia so I can watch The Grand Tour from my bean bag.

I use a lot of other software and services but the above are the main ones I use pretty much everyday that I’m at my desk.

I am always looking for ways to improve my productivity and effectiveness with software and services. If you therefore have something you can recommend to me please don’t hesitate to let me know what it is.

My gear

I thought I’d take a moment and share with you the main hardware items I use, and what role each plays.

Surface Pro 4 – My main desktop machine for all my day to day work. With 16 GB of RAM it allows me to run Hyper V machines to typically test the connection of on premises environments to Azure and Office 365.

Surface Pro 3 – My travelling machine for presentations and work on the road. It is also a backup machine to the Surface Pro 4, if for any reason my main machine has issues. Not quite as powerful as the Surface Pro 4 but a really great machine to travel with.

Surface Pro 1 – For many years my original main desktop machine. It is now being repurposed into a dedicated ‘Office 365/Windows 10 Azure AD joined’ machine that will live the full integrated experience. It will be the demo machine I used to test out the integrations between client and the Microsoft Cloud.

Mac Book Pro – Starting to show its age but still allows me to understand the emotional fuss people make about these machines (my experience is that they are no better or worse than PCs really). I typically use this machine on the weekend so I get to experience what being a ‘normal’ end user is like. I still don’t have much Mac experience and that makes it extremely annoying actually getting technical stuff done on this machine. However, at least I can test how these Apple desktops work with Office 365.

Ipad 2 – Getting a bit long in the tooth now and mainly used as my test device for connection of iOS to Office 365. All the Microsoft apps are on there and I use it to understand better how iOS works with Office 365. Also, a very handy travelling machine when you just need to check and reply to a few emails. Much more suited to my stubby fingers when it comes to email.

Nexus 5 – Another device that is beginning to seem slower than it actually is. In the world of Office 365 I need to understand how Android connects to Office 365 and what apps are available, hence this ‘pure’ Google device. It has all the Microsoft software installed, including the Next screen launcher. This is also my go to podcast device simply because it is the smallest portable device I have. This phone is also a backup in case my main Windows 10 phone has any issues. It also doubles as a secondary Wi-Fi hotpot in case of Internet connectivity issues.

Lumia 950 XL – My main day to day phone running Windows 10. Does everything I need and more. Love it. My only criticism is that it is perhaps too large for my stumpy fingers, the 950 probably would have been ergonomically a better bet upon reflection. I use this to make calls, send texts, read emails and function as a Wi-Fi hotspot when other Internet connection options are inadequate. It is my office when I can only use the one hand.

Microsoft display dock – Connects to the Lumia 950 XL to provide power as well as the continuum feature where the phone can act as a desktop. I really think this configuration is the way forward and am looking forward to the rumoured Surface phone.

Kensington USB 3.0 Docking Station sd3500v – This allows my main machine to connect to multiple monitors, standard LAN connectivity and a variety of USB connections as well as audio. Simply one connection to Surface Pro 4 and many connections out.

WD Sentinel DX4000 – My on premises NAS to hold all my local files. Also holds things such as videos, ISOs, etc that are too large for realistic storage in the Cloud. The server run Windows Storage Server and doesn’t do much else than act as a big file share for all my machines but it has a RAID configuration which is great protection for my data.

Rode NT-USB microphone – My ‘high quality’ audio device for doing podcasts as well as meetings.

Plantronics wired headsets – I have two of these, one for my desktop and one for the road. Great quality and sound.

Acer CB281HK 4K 28” monitor – All my machines, when they are on my desktop, connect to at least a second screen (my main Surface Pro 4 connects to dual monitors). The best of these is this Acer model. Clear, sharp and huge. Great for work but also leisure.

Amazon Kindle – Still to my mind the best dedicated device I own. I use it everyday and love the way it looks and feels as well as how well it does what it does. The charge lasts for ages, you can use it anywhere. It is clean, smart and functional. It is one of the devices that I can truly say has changed the way I function, and for the better.

Fitbit – When I’m not travelling I wear a Charge HR. My aim is to achieve 10,000 steps a day but my main reason for using this device is to monitor my sleep patterns. I’m trying to improve my sleep in order to boost my daily productivity and this device helps me do that along with so much else. This is the perfect device to help you keep your fitness commitments.

Xbox 360 – Apart from being slaughtered by foul mouthed nine year olds in Call of Duty constantly while providing some much needed frustration release and hand eye-coordination training, I spend most of my time on this device watching YouTube, especially Microsoft content.

Of course, I have various other gadgets spread around the place but the above list are the main items I use and recommend.

What’s your list?

MVP for 2017

It is with a great deal of humility and pride that I can report that Microsoft has once again recognised my community contributions with its Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for 2017 in the Office Servers and Services.

This is now my sixth consecutive award and just as special as the first. This recognition is however not possible without the support of so people who follow and support what I do, especially those that take the time to read this blog. To each and every one of you I say thanks again.

I’ll be sure to work hard again to bring you more information about Office 365 and Azure. However, all of that wouldn’t be possible without Microsoft making such great products and making them available to people like me. I look forward eagerly to what they’ll be bringing out in 2017. It is going to be another very exciting year for Microsoft and being in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Being an MVP is great and unique honour. Being part of a community of really smart and passionate technology people who are also MVPs is truly inspiring and I hope to live up to their dedication and enthusiasm. I congratulate all those who where also awarded the same MVP recognition today.

But again, I thank Microsoft for this honour and will work hard to live up top the expectations it sets again for 2017.