Need to Know podcast–Episode 63

This to me is very interesting episode because in it I speak with Greg Plum from PlumUC.com around the opportunities Lync in Office 365 provides.

As many know, I have always been very, very positive about what functionality Lync can provide and the opportunity it offers for IT resellers to with customers. One of the major missing pieces in the SMB space has been the easy integration with traditional phone systems. This is where Greg and his business can help. He is able to provide that quickly and easily.

To me this is a HUGE value add to Office 365 and something everyone should take heed of because the concept of unified communications is rapidly being adopted by all businesses, and Office 365 makes that even easier.

Sit back, listen and enjoy. I think you’ll get a lot out of this episode. You can find the episode here:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-63-greg-plum/

or subscribe to this and all episodes in iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

I am also pleased top announce that the podcast is now available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Of course, I’d love to hear what you think of this episode or any others. Also, if you are interested in being a guest on the show to discuss business or technical topics also feel free to contact me (director@ciaops.com).

Sydney SharePoint Saturday–I’m speaking

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In sunny ole Sydney this Saturday (29th November 2014)? Fancy a bit of SharePoint luvin’? If so why don’t you head along to SharePoint Saturday at:

Clifton’s
13/60 Margaret St, Sydney

from 9am. Full details and registrations at:

http://www.spsevents.org/city/Sydney/Sydney2014

if you do you’ll discover a whole days worth of content specifically around SharePoint. I’ll be speaking about OneDrive in the afternoon so I’d love to see you at my session.

If you are planning to attend the day drop me a line and let me know so I can say hi!

I still firmly believe that SharePoint represents the greatest opportunity for SMB IT resellers and is something they need to be familiar with at the very least. For customers SharePoint provides a way to streamline and manage their information much better and likewise is not something that should be dismissed.

Thus, in summary, no matter who you are, you should come to Sydney SharePoint Saturday. There is something for everyone!

How Does “The Cloud” Affect the MSP Business?–Full wrap

A while back I wrote a post about an interview I did with Bigger MSP around the future of the managed services business in the cloud era.

That was the first in a series of interviews with some very smart and experienced people in the SMB IT industry. So, for your viewing pleasure here they all are for you, starting with yours truly:

I thank Chip Reeves from Bigger MSP for the opportunity to be part of this fantastic project.

Let me know what you think from the panel of expert here. I particularly like what Jay McBain has to say, so be sure to watch that video!

Need to Know podcast–Episode 62

Tas Gray from AxiomIT is back for another episode focused on Office 365. We cover a range of announcements that Microsoft recently made as well as some discussion about Office 365 adoption.

To listen to the episode visit:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-62-tas-gray/

or subscribe to this and all episodes in iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

I am also pleased top announce that the podcast is now available on Stitcher at;

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

If you are interested in being a guest on the show to discuss business or technical topics please contact me (director@ciaops.com).

Office 365 RDS questions answered

The Garage series has done a nice summary around Office desktop applications from Office 365 on Remote Desktops. A lot of this was also contained in an earlier blog post of mine which I recommend you review:

https://blog.ciaops.com/2014/10/office-365-rds-world-changes-again.html

The major point to remember here is that they are talking about Office Pro Plus via Office 365 which is ONLY available via Enterprise plans (Office Pro Plus Stand alone, E3 and E4) per the following site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj900171.aspx

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Office via the Office 365 SMB plans (Business and Business Premium) is NOT Office Pro Plus (because it no longer includes things like Access).

The great things is that the Remote Desktop capability can be used on a variety of platforms (including Remote App from Azure) and is now much easier to install and deploy than it ever was. However, remember it is NOT available if you purchase the new Office 365 SMB plans. As I always say, this is another key reason to only go with Enterprise Office 365 plans. However, another benefit of modern Office 365 plans is that you can mix and match between SMB and Enterprise plans in the same tenant as required.

How Does “The Cloud” Affect the MSP Business?

A while ago I publish a blog post entitled:

Why I don’t like the term Trusted Advisor

It turns out that this post has generate some interesting debates on other forums. Someone who was involved in those discussions, Chip Reeves from Bigger MSP, has now put together a series of interviews with myself and other thought leaders in the SMB IT space.

To get the ball rolling on this project Chip has recorded a short video interview with me that you can view above. In it I reiterate how today IT resellers should be thinking like a Chief Information Officer (CIO) rather than an provider that merely sits on the side line waiting for stuff to happen.

I also highlight some points I made in a blog post back in 2012:

Valley of Discontent

in which I outlined my belief that the only two options available to SMB IT providers going forward was to get huge or get small and specialise.

I’ll post up the videos from the others than Chip interviews around this question but in the meantime, watch the interview, read my blog posts and let me know what you think. Am I on the right track or totally off base? I’d love to hear you opinions.

Office 365 Clutter now rolling out

Microsoft keeps the new features of Office 365 rolling with the release of Clutter:

http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/11/de-clutter-inbox-office-365/

To enable Clutter you’ll need to have enabled the office 365 first release program which I details previously at:

https://blog.ciaops.com/2014/09/enabling-office-365-first-release.html

Once the first release feature is enabled you’ll need to wait for Clutter to appear. To check, go to your Outlook Web Access page in the Office 365 portal (i.e. click the Outlook at the top of the page, along the menu bar, when you login to the portal).

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Then select the Cog in the top right corner. From the menu that appears select Options.

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From the menu on the left expand the Automatic processing and then select Clutter from the list. Note the Clutter option won’t appear for you until it has been rolled out to your tenant. On the right select the option to Separate items identified as Clutter and then select Save. Now you are good to go with a leaner inbox, which will hopefully get leaner over time as the Clutter algorithm learns more about what is important to you.

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Once you enable Clutter you’ll see an additional folder created under you inbox called Clutter. It is into here that message deemed non-essential will automatically be routed,

In essence it seems that Clutter is basically automatic mail rules. It uses machine learning to determine what is ‘important’ and re-routes what isn’t to a sub-folder.

Having used email rules for year to have a more productive email system this doesn’t appear to be a major improvement for the way I work. However, I do know it will be HUGE for almost everyone else because I rarely see others effectively use mail rules for the inbox. They simply allow email to accumulate in their inbox where they never read them. So, the whole process taking place automatically is going to really benefit the majority of users who are currently swamped with emails.

Remember, each user will have to enable Clutter for themselves, inside their own portal login using the process outlined above.

There you have it. Another features added to Office 365 to help your productivity. What do you think? is this helpful? What could be improved? Will you use it? I’d love to hear. I’m interested to see how it interacts with any existing inbox rules, which I assume will be applied PRIOR to Clutter taking over??