As you may have heard in recent news, Microsoft’s Exchange Server (Microsoft’s long-running mail & calendaring server) has been the victim of an ongoing cyber hack since January of 2021. This hack has exposed various organisations email data to a Chinese hacker group dubbed “Hafnium”. So, as partners of Axiom IT and users of many Microsoft tools, you’re probably wondering if this affects you.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
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Change resistance is real, and businesses often face the challenging decision between staying with outdated systems or moving to a new unknown solution. It’s important for businesses to keep up with technological advancements but often the fear of a new system (that nobody can use) discourages them from upgrading. Assigning someone to champion the use of a new technology within the organisation can streamline the transition and increase the chance of successful org-wide adoption. Champions improve adoption rates, decrease frustrations, reduce the likelihood of reverting back to old systems, and expedite the rewards reaped from the new system. A Microsoft Teams Champion is an invaluable asset in the transition to a Modern Workplace and can help ensure a company’s “business as usual” gets the upgrade it needs.
In our first Cybersecurity Basics blog, we discussed the danger small businesses face when being targeted by cyber-criminals. A 2018 report indicated that “58% of cyber attack victims were small businesses,“ defined as organisations with less than 250 employees. And while we previously focused on the usage of Multi-Factor Authentication, how to share login details, how to spot a phishing email, and where you can acquire more help on these issues, today we’re tackling further comprehensive tips and skills your business can learn in order to stay well ahead of the game.
2020. The name alone sounds as if it’s harbouring a new futuristic age for our planet. And as we enter this brand new decade, living up to the name, it’s undeniable that we have indeed entered a new age. The way we communicate, work and merely live in this decade has vastly changed since the beginning of the last. And one of the most crucial advancements in this time is the rising status quo of the modern workplace.
Soon to be realised in most plans of Office 365 is the Office 365 Planner. It is essentially Microsoft’s answer to the ultimate collaborative tool, with the intention of making team projects easy and efficient. It offers a very visual way to organise teamwork, allowing people to create ‘Plans’ with others and then organise and assign tasks within those Plans. You can also share files, message each other and get instant updates about the project’s progress.
Each Plan has a Board. On each Board, you can assign Cards. Cards will be associated with work tasks or items, and will have assigned due dates, attachments, categories and conversations. They will display a document or picture (depending on the specific item the Card is associated with) which means the Planner remains incredibly visual, and at a glance you can see which tasks and items you have displayed on your Board. Read more
A lot of you will know what OneDrive for Business is and already be putting it to good use within your business. To those of you who aren’t familiar with the platform, OneDrive for Business with Office 365 allows you to save files into the Cloud, meaning that you can access them anywhere and on any device.
OneDrive for Business also allows you to share files with others. The benefit of this is that you can collaborate on an original document simultaneously with mulitple people, rather than sending out copies of a file and then struggling to keep track of which copy contains the most recent updates. There are several different ways to share files through OneDrive for Business. Read more
Newly included with Office 365 and Outlook 2016 is a feature called Groups. It can be a great way to collaborate within your business whilst providing the same familiarity of Outlook, combined with the powerful security and collaborative features of SharePoint.
One of the most common ways businesses collaborate is simply by sharing documents through email, but there are so many problems with this, as we often reiterate. When sharing documents in this way, you are really only sending a copy of the original file. Any changes made by another colleague on that file will have to then be manually transferred onto the original, and if you’re dealing with several colleagues and copies, it can be a nightmare trying to keep track of the most recent changes. On top of this, sharing copies can often result in chunks of text being accidentally omitted from the final document. Read more
When running a business, security is vital. Documents saved onto computers or in shared spaces often contain large amounts of sensitive information, and for it to get into the wrong hands could sometimes have dire consequences.
It might seem like you have control over who’s accessing your documents by keeping everything in shared spaces, like Network Folders or Dropbox for example, and only sharing files with the relevant and trusted staff, but it’s not 100% secure. Who’s to stop someone who has been granted access from saving these shared files onto their computer? Suddenly anyone with access to the same computer can easily obtain and manipulate the documents. Read more
Despite it being five minutes before the event was due to begin, the foyer of Microsoft was already beginning to fill with guests. Attendees filed into reception to receive name tags, coffee, and of course a pastry or two from the complimentary free breakfast. Whilst men and women from different Melbourne businesses began to mingle, the delegates from Axiom IT and Keyboard Concepts were hastily setting up their presentation, and before long everything was ready. Read more
Microsoft’s cloud storage solution, SkyDrive, has officially been renamed to OneDrive. The announcement from Microsoft mentions that existing SkyDrive users will automatically have their content available on OneDrive which I assume means no migration is required. Great news for existing users.
OneDrive is everything you love about SkyDrive and more.
Microsoft seem to be suggesting that with the new name will come new features, not already present in SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro. We look forward to learning more about OneDrive and the new features it will bring! For those interested in learning more, head over to https://preview.onedrive.com/.
Related Pages – OneDrive for Business – New Expiry Feature with Office 365