Information about SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Azure, Mobility and Productivity from the Computer Information Agency
If you have an Office 365 First Release tenant and you go and have a look at your Office 365 Group files you’ll see that the interface has been updated to the new look OneDrive for Business as you can see above.
This gives it a consistent look and feel with an individual’s OneDrive for Business which is a good thing. This and all the other changes that have surfaced in the last week or so give you an indication at how rapidly this product is evolving.
While recently at Office 365 Nation in Seattle I did a short podcast with Karl Palachuk all about Power BI and its how it can provide benefit to even small businesses.
You can download the MP3 to listen to at:
http://smbcommunitypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/201510SMBNation1RobertChipJoel.mp3
If you haven’t as yet taken a look at Power BI I would strongly encourage you to do so. At the very least you should be connecting Power BI to Google Analytics to analyse what’s happening on your web site.
Look out for more information about Power BI coming here soon.
Thanks to my very special guest for this episode, Marc Kean, for not only agreeing to being interviewed but for also doing a new intro and extro for the podcast. Let me know what you think!
I cover off the latest Office 365 news and then dive into Office 365 compliance with Marc who shares his knowledge and experience around ensuring business information is kept secure and how to achieve that with Office 365.
You can listen to this episode at:
http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-92-marc-kean/
or subscribe to this and all episodes in iTunes at:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2
The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr
Don’t forget to give the show a rating as well as send me any feedback or suggestions you may have for the show. I’m also on the hunt for some co-presenters so if you are interested on being a regular part of the show please contact me.
Resources
I have returned from presenting at another conference. You’ll find my presentations from the event embedded further down in this post or at my Docs.com.
I thought I’d also take a moment to share some techniques and tips I’d recommend you employ when attending a conference to ensure that you get the most from any conference.
1. Remember you are at the conference for business.
It is all well and good to take a step back and enjoy everything that a conference has to offer, the food, the drink, the location, the company, but remember it is all costing your business money. Thus, you should be asking yourself whether you are getting return on investment constantly. This may mean learning something new, meeting a new contact who can help your business, etc. but you need to ensure you GET something in return.
Don’t get caught in the trap of treating the whole event as a party. Don’t get caught in the trap of getting wiped out on the first night and then being unable to attend any of the sessions. Have fun, yes but always ask yourself, what return am I getting for my investment in time and money at the conference.
2. Have a plenty of business cards
Always ensure you have plenty of business cards before leaving for a conference. Every time you go anywhere near the conference venue ensure your pocket if full of business cards and you have an adequate supply elsewhere as a backup.
Don’t be shy handing out your business card as well as receiving cards from others. Every time your strike up a conversation with someone, make sure they leave that conversation with your card.
3. Carry a pen
As only fashioned as it seems having a pen ready and available is till the quickest way of writing notes and capturing information. In my case, I always ensure there is space to write on the back of my business card so I can write a URL or a note and give that to someone. If you don’t have a business card that allows this, carry some blanks cards just in case.
It is easy to say that you’ll send an email follow up, however jotting it down goes a long way to ensuring that you’ll follow through.
Also remember that battery power can be at a premium during conferences and you don’t want to be tethered to a wall and miss out on the hallway conversations. A pen is a great information recording device backup for your phone or tablet when it starts running low on juice.
4. Make yourself available for conversations
There is nothing wrong with waiting in a publically visible but off to the site location. Try and find an area that will accommodate at least one other person and is quieter than the middle of the conference throng.
By doing this you make it more enticing for someone to come up and have a chat with you, especially if they have been looking for a chance to do just that. Being immersed in the conference ‘mosh-pit’ is great and there is always something interesting happening but remember, you are looking to generate the most return for your business not listen to others pontificate constantly.
5. Convert business cards into Linkedin contacts asap
Whenever you get a chance, go through the business cards you have received so far in the day and connect with them on Linkedin. This is firstly a good backup in case you misplace their business card but it also give you deeper insight into that contact and their details thanks to Linkedin. It does likewise for your new contact but also indicates how keen and on the ball you are by making contact electronically shortly after meeting them.
6. Wear the uniform
Many people think that it is extremely boring to wear the same outfit to a conference every day. I purposely ensure I wear that same thing throughout the conference. One of the main things I ensure I do is wear a branded shirt. Why? People respond to consistency, the more consistent you are, in every aspect, the more comfort people derive. Also, if you wear the same thing you make it easier for people to identify you in the crowd if they are looking to seek you out to make contact.
Wearing the ‘uniform’ also reduces the decisions you need to make about packing for the event and dressing on the day. Personally, I don’t want to waste my precious decisions credits on working out what to wear each day, I simply don the uniform and get on with generating ROI for my business.
There are of course plenty more tips I could pass on but these hopefully should provide you some benefit next time you attend an event.
Let me know what you think works when you attend a conference. I’d love to hear.
Unleashing the Power of Azure
Is Windows 10 the last version resellers will ever install?
Woh! Big day for my Office 365 tenant with the new Admin center preview also now showing up as you can see from above.
Much more user friendly and removes many of the distractions from the older portal that tried to be everything to everyone in my opinion and simply became too cumbersome. Less is always more when it comes of efficient design, so I say this new portal is a winner.
I wonder what other new surprises I can find in my tenant today?
The theme music clinches the deal.
Interesting how now even Microsoft hardware is cool eh?
Well I am back (finally, phew) from Seattle and being part of Office 365 Nation hosted by the one and only Harry Brelsford.
First, a shout out to Harry and his staff for putting on another great event. Everything ran very smoothly and everyone I talked to had a great time.
Next, I also have to thank all the attendees that came to my sessions (even those I was a tad under the weather for). Also to those who made time to come up and chat or just say hello. This is what community is all about and the main reason I’ll endure over 24 hours or travel door to door to be in attendance. That also doesn’t cover all the great new contacts I made during the time.
To these and everyone else who helped make the trip worthwhile I say thanks.
I have posted all my presentations from the event up at my DOCS.com site (which also has plenty of other interesting free stuff from me), in the Presentations collection:
https://docs.com/ciaops/7775/presentations
Across the Isle
Understanding Microsoft Cloud Identities
Office 365 security, privacy and compliance
Office 365 Identity Management
Riding the Big Data Wave with Excel and Power BI
If you want to see why I think Delve is such an important component of Office 365 then you should read an earlier post:
Delve should be the center of your Office 365 universe
Microsoft has changed the way it educates users about when they visit Delve for the first time.
They will see the above splash screen, at which point they can continue straight to Delve or work through the introduction.
If they elect to learn more about Delve they will then see the above screen, which is the second part of the education process.
Then another.
Until finally they see the above screen. Typically from here users will then be taken to Delve.
All in all, a good bit of extra information around Delve to give users a better understanding of what it is and what it does.
The reality with Delve, like most of Office 365, is that it is speedily adding new features as this recent blog post outlines:
Office Delve adds Praise, Favorites and enhances content creation
I am already beginning to see Delve favourites option appearing my tenant:
and I really can’t wait for the praise feature to become available, as I think that is going to be a huge driver of adoption.
What truly amazes me is the number of people, resellers and customers, who don’t use Delve! Maybe they have looked it, can’t understand what it is, so they never return. Bad move. Delve is a way to really boost your productivity and be across all your company information quickly and easily. It is really the future of how people will access information in cloud services I believe. That is why it is so important to start looking and understanding it now, because it is going to become very pervasive.
As always, very excited to see all these updates coming to the service and seeing how they make things easier.
CIAOPS 