October 2007 - Posts
Today, while troubleshooting an issue with a clients exchange server, I was digging through the add-ins in my Outlook 2007. You do know how to see these don't you, it is different than in previous versions…
In Outlook goto tools->Trust Center… In the dialogue go to Add-ins on the left pane.
In there I noticed one I had not ever seen or heard or read about before, but it is really great: SharePoint Server Colleague Import add-in
So a quick Live search on the internet reveals this page: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101153421033.aspx Scroll down to the bottom, the best seems to be last in this case…
SharePoint Server Colleague Import add-in
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Colleague Import add-in helps to identify your colleagues on your trusted My Site on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. To generate a list of your possible colleagues, the add-in scans your mailbox to look for names on the To and From boxes in sent and received e-mail messages, along with the frequency with which these names are correlated with you as the sender or receiver. The add-in does not scan the e-mail content of your mailbox. The generated list only contains account names. It is updated periodically, and stored in the same location as the Personal Folders (.pst) files on your local computer. The list of possible colleagues is accessed by the My Site Add Colleagues page where you can choose the colleagues you want to add to your trusted My Site. This add-in is turned on by default when you install Office Outlook 2007. You can remove the add-in from the Add-ins dialog box in the Trust Center. For more information, see Enable or disable add-ins in Office programs. The add-in can be disabled permanently by the administrator.
Seems this thing works when Outlook and Moss are used together. It indexes who you are working with ALL the time, or at least frequently, and suggests those people to you in MOSS as being colleagues. What's so great about that? Well it is contextually building your 'social network'. We live in our circle, in our world everyday, and that's fine. But let's say you go and get amnesia, or more likely you're really, really busy!!! You don't think about your network, until you need something from someone, then, BAM! Who was that I was working with? Was it Steve, or Bill, or Kim, or Abbie, or Russell, oh yea I gotta email Russell about something, now what was I doing??? Before I know it I am off on something totally different, and the thing or person I was looking to talk to about that thing is forgotten. Keeping that social fabric together for me is invaluable.
Now admittedly, this probably is not that big of a deal in a small company, but let's switches the focus. What if you are a small church or some other not-for-profit? You don't see those volunteers daily or perhaps even weekly, due to differing schedules, different projects, whatever. But your business network is important when you need it, and this is another 'hitch' Microsoft has made to help us, but it's only effective when used together, Office 2007 and MOSS 2007.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/oct07/10-02ggwa.mspx
If it was not hard enough to work with Microsoft, here's another wrinkle…Microsoft just announced a licensing program to help corporations who may have been the victim of piracy or counterfeiting get legal. In most cases this is directed at clients who already thought they were legal.
Abbie and I recently took and passed the Software Asset Management exam and can attest to just how hard it can be to be legal with your software. This is a real problem for us businesses, the Business Software Alliance research indicates that North America has a 22% Piracy rate: http://www.bsa.org/country/Research%20and%20Statistics.aspx. While that's not as bad as other parts of the world, it's still pretty shameful. For your business, think about being robbed for 22% of your stuff. I don't know how much the big box retailers consider acceptable loss rate, but I would be shocked if it were that high. I am glad that a) Microsoft recognizes that not all this piracy is willful and b) that they are taking steps to help customers know and understand their rights and obligations and how to become legal if they are subject to a shortfall.
If you feel you may be a victim of Piracy or want to learn more about this problem feel free to contact either Abbie or I about this and we'll try to help.
http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2007/09/29/5200874.aspx
no boys and girls, I'm not talking about DST! No this is all about brand awareness and support for the Small Business Specialist Community. Abbie and I joined the SBSC program over 2 years ago, and this whole time we have been saying we need marketing support. In the form of Print, Radio, and TV. No not from Microsoft saying, go see Abbie and Bill over at Annabel Watters, PC. No, rather, I have been saying we need that constant support, like the People Ready Campaign. I mean would it be soooooooo hard to say Partner?
Here, let's try it together…Partner.
Now let's try a phrase…Ask your Partner…
One more phrase…Small Business Specialist…
We regularly do Connections events throughout Texas, and the thing that is missing…(ARE YOU READING THIS MSAM???) Say it now…Partner Partner Partner…ask a partner. Work with your Partner. Partner Partner Partner!!! Is your Partner an SBSC? Ask an SBSC about your technology needs. SBSC, SBSC SBSC!!!
To help amplify this, I was at a business today, and the proprietor was explaining that she had no idea where to get IT help. She had contracted a local IT Franchisee, this after 'working' with another IT Franchisee. She asked how could she know who to call for project work or support? The Yellow Pages? She called around a couple of places, and finally asked someone who had a guy. What's great is they proposed and put in a technical solution to a business problem. Problem is that the 'solution' does not really address the business problem. It patches over a couple of the symptoms, but does not cure the problem, and ultimately will end up costing the business more. It is truly a shame, because the business woman is actually a very smart person and has a tremendous business model.
Hopefully the upcoming marketing support will help address this problem in the future. Small Businesses do not know where to turn, and too often they get hooked up with a friend's sister's roommate, who met a guy at 31 flavors texting on his crackberry… a guy who knows technology to some degree, but cannot hear and feel the business issues and then translate that into a strategic IT solution, turning a business problem into a business asset.
So next you need business solutions to business problems, call a Partner, an SBSC, not just a guy!!!