Previously in Building and growing your business with Windows 10 and the cloud…

Stay current, efficient, and effective

Upgrade your organization’s devices to Windows 10

Deploy a provisioning package to customize Windows 10 devices

• Use the Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) tool to create the package.
• Use ICD to create one or more new provisioning projects.
• Customize a provisioning package for each project that will configure:
  • Applications
  • Drivers
  • Features on demand
  • Language packages
  • Device data
  • Device settings
  • Windows update settings
• Apply optional signing and encryption, then build the package.
• Distribute the package to your users by network share, email, or physical media.
• Users double-click the package file from email or a network share, or they click Settings > Accounts > Your workplace > Add or remove a package for work or school to install the package from physical media.

Stay tuned!

Still can’t wait? More about Windows 10, Office 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Intune

Previously in Building and growing your business with Windows 10 and the cloud…

About mobile device management

• Enforce mobile device MDM enrollment.
• Set access controls for Office 365 email and documents.
• Define password and encryption requirements.
• Enforce a managed email profile (that the user cannot change).
• Apply additional policy settings for mobile devices around app usage, capabilities, and allowed device features.
• Lock mobile devices after failed sign-in attempts.
• Remotely wipe mobile devices.

Set up MDM for Office 365

1. Activate MDM in the Office 365 admin center under Mobile Management.
2. Configure Apple Push Notification (APN) certificates for iOS devices.
3. Set up Multi-Factor Authentication to further secure mobile sign-in with a password, specific device, or biometric input.
4. Configure mobile device management policies (for lock and wipe, for example).
5. Use the Office 365 admin center Mobile Management section to view device properties, and to block or wipe devices.
6. View reports in the Office 365 Compliance Center to see the results of MDM policies and device enrollment.

Extend MDM with Microsoft Intune

1. Visit the Intune sign-up page.
2. Subscribe using your organization’s Office 365 account.
3. Add your users to Intune individually or in bulk.
4. Create groups to simplify management of multiple users.
5. Establish security and device configuration policies.
6. Publish apps that you want to make available for users to install from your organization’s Office 365 portal.

Stay tuned!

Still can’t wait? More about Windows 10, Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Intune

Previously in Building and growing your business with Windows 10 and the cloud…

Set up integrated cloud storage

OneDrive for Business

1. Sign in to their Office 365 user portal.
2. Click the OneDrive for Business icon to initialize storage.
3. Open the OneDrive app on their device.

• Connected services now include OneDrive for Business.

SharePoint Online

1. Set up Office 365 file storage and sharing.
2. Configure the SharePoint Online service in Office 365.
3. Configure SharePoint Online sites and set up user permissions.
4. Organize service-wide content and plan features.
5. Customize individual sites for internal user access and external sharing with partners and customers.

• Office 365 team subsites store and share documents that are intended for and limited to only a specific customer.

Secure your data: use BitLocker and the Office 365 Compliance Center

• Email archiving
• Sensitive data loss prevention and monitoring
• Data retention, compliance search, and e-discovery policies
• Mailbox import settings
• Mobile device management and remote wipe

Use Cortana

Stay tuned!

Still can’t wait? More about Windows 10, Office 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Intune

Previously in Building and growing your business with Windows 10 and the cloud…

Be productive anytime, anywhere with cloud-based email, calendar, and Office applications

Office 365 applications and services

Set up email

1. Visit your Office 365 admin center.
2. Verify ownership of your domain.
3. Update your user settings to switch from the initial onmicrosoft.com domain to your organization’s domain.
4. Use the wizard to update name server records at your domain registrar. (The wizard tells you exactly which records to update, including the values you’ll need for each one, and it guides you through the steps.)
   1. If you’d rather, you can update your name server records yourself.
5. Verify that email starts flowing to your new Office 365 hosted domain.
   1. Use single sign-on to open Office 365 email either with Outlook or Outlook on the web.

Set up PCs and 2-in-1 devices

1. Sign in to Office 365 at your Office 365 user portal.
2. Choose the language and select the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the Office software.
3. Accept the license agreement, and click All done.

Set up phones

A note on the Continuum experience

Stay tuned!

Still can’t wait? More about Windows 10, Office 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Intune

Previously in Building and growing your business with Windows 10 and the cloud…

The foundation of your organization's IT services: identity, single sign-on, and Microsoft Office 365

Don't buy a domain controller; use online directory services

Set up your corporate domain in Office 365

1. Visit the Office 365 admin center.
2. Verify your company domain in Office 365.
3. Add users to your online directory service.
4. Assign Office 365 licenses to users.
5. Configure policies for user authentication, device management, and domain services.
6. Import, migrate, or set up email for your users.
7. Verify that mail is flowing to your new Office 365 domain.
8. Download Office 365 applications and set up Skype for Business Online.
9. Set up online storage using Microsoft OneDrive for Business.
10. Add optional SharePoint Online collaboration services.

Use self-service and Multi-Factor Authentication to reduce admin intervention

• Office phone voice call
• Mobile phone text message or voice call
• Alternate email message
• Security question responses

1. Select one or more users in the admin center.
2. Enable the Multi-Factor Authentication option for those users.
3. Manage user settings for contact methods, device and application passwords, and suspended device policies.

Simplify user and device onboarding with Windows 10 and Azure self-managed domain join

• They enter their domain-based username.
  • Azure AD looks for your matching organization.
• Their device is then registered in the organization's hosted domain in Azure AD.
• The device is optionally enrolled in mobile device management.
• From then on, signing in to the device using the organization username connects the device to your domain.
• Users enjoy single sign-on to Office 365, online storage, and any other applications and services you have configured for their use.

Stay tuned!

Still can't wait? More about Windows 10, Office 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Intune

The road starts here

Running a small business is not for the faint-hearted. There are countless decisions to be made, and one in particular can be fairly daunting: determining the right IT infrastructure for your company. If you're starting pretty much from scratch, you may be mulling over the many considerations: What's so great about the cloud? Should you just do what everyone has usually done and build servers to host your domain, email, and file storage? How much capacity will you need in a year or two? How do you plan for future growth? How much of your time will all this take? What's the best way to go about deploying Windows 10? And how do you do all this with a lean budget?

Take a deep breath—we're here to help, and this series of blog posts explains how.

Microsoft: your traveling companion

Microsoft has developed cloud-only IT offerings based around Microsoft Azure cloud services and a tightly integrated Windows 10 feature set that let you start a "serverless" office from the ground up, with minimal investment. Your IT environment will grow with you, and you can save costs by adding or removing services and licenses depending on your business cycle.

A major advantage of a cloud-based deployment is rapid implementation and provisioning. You can get started immediately; it's straightforward and requires no dedicated specialists to get your apps and services up and running. You get the essentials of an on-premises domain-based deployment without the associated costs, onsite servers to maintain, deployment efforts, or staffing requirements.

You won't need servers and you won't need a datacenter—you can manage your entire IT environment in the cloud, and without extensive specialist training. You and your users will be happy that they can now take charge and manage their apps and devices themselves, according to your configuration and policy choices. And of course, it's all built using Microsoft industry-leading experience and expertise in safeguarding your data, whether in email, on a lost device, or in the cloud.

Cloud solutions are flexible and scalable to suit your organization's needs, and there's an ecosystem of cloud partners ready to help. They're dedicated to finding the right solution now, to put you in the best position for growth in the future.

Before we set out...

You may be wondering, "What if I have some apps and services, and even Active Directory or other infrastructure, already running in my organization?"

Don't worry, Microsoft provides plenty of tools that help you connect your existing on-premises IT assets to the cloud. With these hybrid implementations, you can use familiar tools and resources to quickly and efficiently onboard new features, increase capacity, and offer users and administrators a single, unified view of the overall environment. You get to maintain the best of your on-premises deployment, while meeting changing business needs with greater speed and flexibility and benefiting from enterprise-grade performance and security.

Look for a specific post on this kind of hybrid setup in the future. In this series, we start with a blank slate and build a 100 percent cloud-based deployment from there.

Milestones on the way to your cloud-based destination

In upcoming blog posts, we will look at how to get from here to there with Windows 10 and Microsoft cloud services, starting by establishing your organization's identity in the cloud, working through managing users and devices, providing apps and services your users need, and finally, maintaining a more secure, agile, and available IT environment. We'll explore a variety of topics to help you take the right path as you embark on your journey:

• Step 1: Set up identity with Azure Active Directory. Build the foundation of your organization's IT services with organization and user identity, single sign-on for apps and services, and the Azure cloud-based directory.
• Step 2: Set up Microsoft Office 365. Support user productivity anytime, anywhere with email, calendar, and real-time communications.
• Step 3: Configure online storage with Windows 10, Microsoft OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint Online. Provide integrated and highly secure cloud storage and file sharing with Windows 10 and OneDrive for Business, and consider the option of using SharePoint Online for external and internal publication and collaboration site management.
• Step 4: Deploy Windows 10 devices. Learn about cloud-based tools to configure and deploy new devices, onboard and remove users, and support bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenarios.
• Step 5: Use the built-in Mobile Device Management (MDM) for Office 365 feature to manage your devices. Use the online dashboard and MDM tools to help provision, scale, and secure applications, devices, and data in a mobile environment.
• Step 6: Enable security tools in Windows and Office 365. Maintain a more secure environment for business data with powerful antimalware tools built into Windows 10 and Office 365.

Get ready!

Watch for future posts that will walk you through each milestone on the way to a powerful and agile IT infrastructure for your organization—all without deploying a single on-premises server. At the end of the series, you will be well-positioned to continue to develop your cloud-based deployment as you consider enterprise-level options and features that can help power your growing business.

Can't wait? More about Windows 10, Office 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Intune

Visit the following sites to learn more about the Windows 10 and Azure-based technologies and services that work together to provide a compelling solution for your cloud-connected devices and services.

Windows 10 for business

Microsoft Office 365 business plans

About Microsoft Azure

About Microsoft Intune

About Microsoft Enterprise Mobility

© Microsoft Corporation 6/23/2016

By Chris Pentago

Like any other thing, technology comes at a huge price especially in the first years of its invention. As a result, access of these business-changing inventions has only been restricted to the high and mighty in the business.

These are the blue chip companies that have made quite some ground into the market. The only SMEs that have been able to benefit from technology immediately after its invention are the ones that have taken root in the industry.

To fully understand the point, one only needs to take the example of the invention of Personal Computers, better known as PCs, back in the 80s. Other technologies that can help illustrate this point include office networking, the emergence of mobile phones or cell phones and the 90s introduction of the Internet.

At the turn of the millennium, there was the invention of ability of companies to keep mass data on servers that were locally hosted. Others included ability to host e-commerce shops and technology that made it easy to provide employees with portable computing.

While we cannot deny that these technologies were actually very critical, the sad truth is that it was not so for many smaller business outfits until much later. The main reason why many small ventures could not immediately take advantage of these ground-breaking technologies is that their costs as well as implementation were simply out of reach for many small business organisations. 

By the time the price of these technologies came down so that SMEs could afford them, the big boys had already used the technology to move several steps ahead of the smaller businesses. In some cases, whenever the small boys tried to install the software or install larger servers, the software was either too expensive for them or was too powerful.

In some situations, the software required shoehorning in order to fit the needs of smaller businesses. The worst part was that they had to wait until such a time when a package that was considered less powerful was developed for their businesses.

Things Have Changed

Luckily though, this is no longer the case today. For around half a decade ago, companies like AWS have been working round the clock with regard to commoditisation of big business infrastructure, once known as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). These include things like storage space, hosting and servers.

The rationale behind this has been that every type of business, its size or location notwithstanding, is entitled to equal access to same technology levels. This then creates a level playing field for both the big and the small boys.

The result is that more business organisations, both smaller and multinational companies, have migrated either to the cloud or a virtualised environment.

This has subsequently enabled them to minimize overheads, be assured that their data is safe as well as accessible every time they need them and finally, to scale the data as much as they require to.

In turn, IaaS has given birth to new industries (like Software as a Service, SaaS), new services which, only 5 years ago, were not anywhere on the radar but which have assisted businesses in capitalizing on the cloud's ubiquity as well as in streamlining their business operations.

Although some of these products are hardware-based (for instance the smartphone), the vast majority of them are software.

This software is known more as apps than just software. Using these apps, individuals and businesses, both large and small, can now accomplish their goals with a lot of ease.

Apps Are For Circumstances, Not For Size

I'll quote one sentence I read recently on Deputy's website (business software vendor), which precisely depicts the current state in the industry:

The growing majority of app designers are no longer distinguishing between big or small business, but rather, understand that the problems which afflict big business are often the things which keep small business owners awake at night and which thus need solving.

Thus, app designers know that they have to come up with solutions to these problems. Apps are used by both small and more established industry players. They serve the same purpose and also come at the same price be it for the more established companies or for the upstarts which are still in their nascent stages.

The app could be aimed at telling where staffs currently are, or they could be designed for improving customer service. Others are meant to show the current stock inventory while yet others indicate the project timeline every employee is up to.

It does not really matter what the app does. The bottom line is that app designers and developers understand that their inventions will only stand to count when they help people to succeed with their tasks, but not choose and pick.

Therefore, if your business falls in the category of small to medium, take heart because the software as well as hardware tools that your business needs are not half as expensive as they used to be a couple of years back.

Also, they are not the overpowered platforms that could not fit the needs of smaller businesses. Instead, owing to growing access that all companies have a raft of new services such as cloud, the playing field for businesses has been leveled.

This in turn has allowed any type of business, however small, to scale as fast as needed as well as to eat in the same plate with the big boys in town. This they do not only simply but also affordable.

Conclusion

Therefore, the death of big business platforms is actually a good thing for small businesses. Everybody starts small. Even those who are today big started as one-store shops. It is therefore very important to ensure that businesses that are just starting out are given an enabling environment to flourish and to prosper.

But if they continue to be taken advantage of by the big guys who have money and means, they will never attain the same heights as the more established companies.

In hindsight, and in as much as the big boys might not like it, we can conclude that the demise of big business infrastructure was actually a blessing in disguise for the small and medium enterprises.

By: Kirk Deis

“Before you create any more great content, figure out how you’re going to market it first.”—Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett, authors of Get Content Get Customers

Most newbie business owners don’t make it past the first year and the lucky few who do fight for every dollar they make. They often survive by promotional marketing. Some take out ads in the Pennysaver; some blow up Facebook feeds with deals; some people even spend thousands of dollars on their business name.

Why anyone would spend that much money on a name escapes me, but there is something to be said for putting thought into a name. After all, your business name is your first impression you make on your clients. When you’re figuring out how to market your business, the name is where you start—it forces you to decide the core of your business.

And isn’t the same true of product names?

If you have the right marketing and sales team pushing your company, you can overcome just about any generic business or product name. With that said, generating the right name will make your life as a product marketing manager much easier.

How do you know if you have the right name?

Ultimately you want a business name that will stand the test of time. You want it to be both meaningful and unique: meaningful, so people associate it with what you can do; and unique, so you can get the URL and trademark.

Consider the following when naming. You want to your name to be…

• Memorable

• Relevant

• Creative

• Catchy

• Fun

Ideally you want your business or product name to resonate with your buyers. Is your company fun? Do you have job titles like “Chief Fun Officer” and “Customer Motivator”? If you’re a creative firm, be creative. If you’re an accounting firm, you want to sound accurate instead of creative. (“We can be creative with your books but you’re the one who goes to jail.”) Don’t have a fun name if you’re targeting “un-fun” buyers.

Getting a Name that Works

Everyone knows Google and Yahoo – they’re giants.  But there are so many names out there that are not as common but just as effective.  Take a look at CLEANAFORNIA.  It’s a play on “clean” and “California.”  Just by looking at that name what does it tell you?

They’re located in California and offer a cleaning service.  It covers everything we were talking about. 

What if you feel the name you have just isn’t there yet and you’re not in a position to spend thousands of dollars. What does one do?

Try a Free Naming Generator

So you’re hesitant about spending money on a name.  Biz Name Wiz has a Free Naming Generator that was a top naming tool on Google for years. (Did I mention it’s FREE?) Here’s how it works. Go to Business Name Generator with some buzz words, type them in the naming generator and in a flash it creates OVER 50 names.

Hire an Expert

The downside to using software is it doesn’t understand the human emotion you want to convey.  That’s what great about Biz Name Wiz they have a team of magazine writers, poets, screenwriters, etc.  They ask questions to understand your vision.  They’ve come up with over 10, 000 names and counting.  Names like:  PRAZZLE, ROCKMATIC, and CLEANAFORNIA. 

What does your business name say?

The bottom line—if your business name says nothing, you have issues. Creating the right business name will make you money. This is branding 101.

Links in Article:

http://www.businessnamegenerator.com/

http://www.biznamewiz.com

Kirk Deis Bio:

Kirk came into this world telling stories and knocking out pages with words. He’s a D.I.Y. King, Bazinga Jedi, and a Netflix addict. His journey led him to blogging and writing for various online publications and ultimately to a lead creative writer position at business naming agency Biz Name Wiz.

About Biz Name Wiz

BizNameWiz.com has a team of creative naming wizards made up of copywriters, magazine writers, poets, screenwriters, creative minds, authors, you name it. You tell Biz Name Wiz your company’s vision and we’ll deliver a perfect business name within two days. Our staff has worked with clients in over 20 countries, creating over 10, 000 names and counting.

Recent studies show that over 80% of employees are not happy at work and they're not motivated to do their jobs because they don't feel appreciated by their bosses. It's important for managers and supervisors to show gratitude toward employees otherwise they won't have a good reason to excel and help their companies thrive. Although financial incentives are more than welcomed, it's not always about the money. Happy employees are those that work in a pleasant environment. A cheerful office, an upbeat boss, and overall team spirit can be a lot more important than a six figure salary with no free time and lots of stress.

How can bosses show appreciation?

The easiest way for a manager to showcase appreciation toward employees is to reward them often. We're not referring to money; sometimes a nice dinner out after a hard working week should suffice. Employees want to socialize, they want to feel part of a team, and ultimately, they want to be valued for their work. A spa day, a 2-day vacation, or just a "good job" every once in a while is all you need to make your people feel appreciated.

Companies that want to increase productivity and retain their employees should find a way to make them happy and keep them engaged. Engaged workers have a reason to achieve greatness; they're motivated, driven, and they would anything to help their organisation succeed. As a manager, you want to your employees to be motivated to perform their best. They will get more done, which means better results for your team, and the entire company too. One important factor in keeping your employees motivated, and keeping their productivity up, is simple appreciation. The fact is that if people think their efforts are not valued, they will not try as hard. When their boss shows appreciation, then employees tend to work harder.  Here are four tips that can make a big difference to the people on your team.

Make employees feel special

While you want to encourage teamwork, you don’t want all of your employees to feel like just another replaceable cog in the system. If you go out of your way to acknowledge their particular skills, or something special they did that nobody else did, it will make them feel like they are making a unique contribution to the team and to their projects. 

Think about what somebody is really good at, and mention it in conversation with them. For instance, “That project report you put together was excellent - very thorough and well organized. I would love it if you could do this for our other projects, too.” 

Let employees know others rely on them, also

You’re the boss, so your team members know that you have expectations of them. What they may not realize is how their work relates to other people, and how others inside and outside your organization are relying on them, too. Whenever you have a chance to let them know how their work has impacted someone else positively, take a few minutes to share the appreciation.

For instance, if the VP of Marketing tells you that they really appreciate the analysis work your team did for their big project proposal, pass along those good words to the individuals on your staff who were involved. They get double appreciation - from you and from the VP of Marketing as well, and they can see how their job is important to the company.

Keep employees challenged

Every job has its repetitive tasks, and not-so-glamorous duties. The key is to balance these with more challenging assignments that will make employees live up to their potential. When you give an employee a project that makes them stretch their abilities, they will put in the extra effort to reach those goals.

A good way to approach this is to acknowledge their abilities and challenges when assigning the new project. For instance, “You’ve did such a good job on that last project, I think you’re ready for this new one. It has some challenging aspects that you haven’t had to deal with before, but I am confident you’ll be able to handle it.”  You can recognise the good work of your entire team, by having a pizza party or taking them out for lunch. While that is great for boosting team spirit, you need to also recognize people individually, too. That’s what makes them feel that their personal contribution is valued.

As a business owner, you know how important it is to ensure your investment makes a return. This can be done by periodically evaluating your operations. It is important to see if there are areas where you can improve efficiency and control costs to help your team function more productively. With that in mind, here are six cost cutting initiatives to save your business time and money.

1. Recycling

Recycling is not only good for the environment. It’s also good for your company’s bottom line and corporate social responsibility. The less material that you put in the trash container, the less your business has to spend on sanitation fees and the closer you are to having a more sustainable business. Set up recycling bins throughout your facility and label them prominently to help workers and visitors get used to separating trash from reusable materials.

2. Going Paperless

With so many documents originating in digital form for easy transmission over networks and by email, it’s a good idea to switch to a paperless office whenever possible. There are great Web based solutions that enable you to access your work from anywhere. Your company will save money on paper and ink as well as on maintenance and service fees for the printers and photocopy machines. Reducing the amount of paper you consume also saves you on storage fees as well as document destruction charges when paperwork is no longer needed.

3. Vertical Shelving

Do you really need to move to a new building? By carefully planning your office layout and identifying where you can save space, your business stands to save time and money. Vertical shelving can maximise office space and can easily fit in the smallest of spaces. Ever wondered why your desk is so big? Ensure you have small pieces of office furniture. This will enable you to re arrange your office space to allow more employees to work in the same amount of office space. This way you can avoid moving to a larger facility and paying for space you don’t necessarily need.

4. Flexi Time

If there is no real need to have all your employees work to the same exact schedule, consider giving them the option of flexi time. Giving your staff greater freedom to work around the requirements of their family makes for a happier and more productive workforce. Job satisfaction rates highly with employees and will motivate them to work more efficiently. You will see an increase in productivity and a have a happier workforce.

5. Replace Lights with LEDs

Savvy start-ups will know that a greener company is a more cost effective one. With this in mind they will want to consider replacing all incandescent lights with lower-power LED lights. LEDs require much less power and do not give off waste heat like incandescent lights They also last longer, saving your staff time in monitoring and replacing burnt out bulbs and money in the process.

6. Standing Room Meetings

Fed up of meetings that last forever? A great and different way to save time is to institute a policy of holding meetings where participants stand. Instead of letting everyone sit down and enjoy snacks while having access to distracting laptops, a standing meeting focuses people’s attention. The result is that meetings are shorter and more productive and no one has fallen to sleep in the process. The end result is that there is no need to hire out the boardroom and your team will no longer fear the dreaded word, meeting.

With increased pressure on business owners these six cost cutting initiatives are sure to positively impact your bottom line. Not only will your company save time and money by following these suggestions, you can also improve employee morale when they see how efficiently they can do their work. What’s more, by choosing environmentally friendly options to control costs, your company will look more appealing to members of the community who are interested in protecting the environment and lowering their carbon footprint. As well as potential investors looking to take your business to the next step.

Bio

As a young entrepreneur and business blogger I have developed a passion for helping small and medium sized businesses grow. I like to particularly focus on using technology and software solutions to save businesses time and money.