Vorsite started a meetup this year geared towards addressing the practical applications of cloud technology and its future in business. With beer.
The beer part is important, because free beer is always a good reason to come to a tech event.
Walt Perry
Now, we don’t normally write posts about our events, but we are extremely thrilled to announce that Walt Perry will be joining our meetup at Hales Ales Brewery and Pub on August 10th, 2011. As a 14-year veteran of Microsoft and he is our go-to guy when it comes to technology. Having held many positions from writing test code to working directly with OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), Walt has a unique perspective on cloud technology.
Don’t miss out on the chance to meet with Walt Perry directly and get a first hand experience of Office 365 on a slate.
Meetup Details
August 10, 2011 @5:30pm
Hales Ales Brewery and Pub in Fremont, Seattle WA
Intune is an all-in-one subscription that includes upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise and cloud services for PC management and security.
With Windows Intune, you can simplify PC management and security, so that your computers and workers can operate at peak performance from virtually anywhere
With the upgrade rights Windows 7 Enterprise and future versions of Windows, you can give your workers the best Windows experience with our premium software
Office 365 is the next generation of productivity-based cloud services from Microsoft. It is geared towards all business, from a one-man show to a global organization. As a small business, it seems a little unreal at times to grasp the concept of having access to the same tools as Coca-Cola, but therein lies the beauty of Microsoft’s services – scale.
Cloud technology helps your business easily scale up or down and relieves your staff from making ongoing technical decisions about servers and bandwidth.
What cloud services are offered with Office 365?
Exchange Online
E-mail, calendar and contacts with current antivirus and anti-spam solutions. Includes the ability to get email on virtually any mobile phone and options for voice mail, unified messaging and archiving.
SharePoint Online
Create sites to connect colleagues, partners and customers. Includes enterprise social networking and customization options.
Lync Online
Instant messaging, presence and online meeting experiences with screen sharing, voice and video conferencing.
Microsoft Office Professional Plus
The desktop version of the favorite productivity tool in business is now part of the complete Office 365 offering.
Office 365: A Few Plans to Consider
Small Business Solution Microsoft’s cloud services plans are customizable based on your business needs.
Enterprise Solutions
Microsoft’s cloud services plans are customizable based on your business needs.
Need help choosing the right plan?
Contact Aaron Nettles anettles@vorsite.com
(206) 781-1797
Non-profit organizations need to be efficient and effective managing donors, employees, and other stakeholders to succeed in bringing their vision to life.
One of the realities of being a non-profit organization (especially in a tough economy) is facing some competition for funds with other non-profits to sustain critical programs. While there are no easy answers, cloud services can help your team in three ways: (1) expands IT role to take on more strategic tasks, (2) lowers the total cost of technology, and (3) brings a hardworking, mission-focused team together.
(1) Expansion of IT Role
If you’re working for a non-profit organization, your IT department is likely swamped with end user issues on a daily basis. While the cloud doesn’t take away the end users, it does promise a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This means your organization’s email will be up and running anytime of day and the IT department can now focus its energies on more strategic goals for the organization.
(2) Lowers Costs
Lowering the cost of hardware can make a big difference to the bottom line, which means more resources to spend on those critical programs. Cloud services provide the benefit of little to no upfront costs and since the costs are scalable, you can predict monthly budgets depending on the number of users and which services are active.
(3) Brings a mission-focused team together
Non-profit organizations work hard every day to provide essential services to their community. One way to streamline processes and reward employee dedication is to provide resources that allow for more flexibility and timely access to information. A cloud-based email and file sharing service gives employees anywhere, anytime access to the information they need and promotes collaboration with fast visibility into calendars, shared files, and online presence of other coworkers. From the office – to board meetings – to a donor’s door, the cloud can keep your employees in sync.
How People for Puget Sound Benefited from Cloud Services
Cole Coleman from People for Puget Sound speaks about his experience with the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) with an emphasis on the ease of migration and compatibility across multiple operating systems.
Friendly Advice: Be sure to discuss any changes with your IT staff or an outside consultant, as not all cloud services are needed for every organization. If you’d like an assessment, please call Aaron Nettles at (206) 781-1797 and see if your organization is ready for the cloud!
Microsoft Lync officially launched today at 8:00am PST.
Microsoft Lync is enterprise communications software that connects employees – think of an amazing combination of video, audio, desktop sharing, instant messenger, and VOIP telephone – all deeply integrated with Microsoft Office products.
“You can do some pretty amazing things with Microsoft Lync 2010, such as switching a call from your computer to your mobile phone, recording an online meeting, or even conducting a conference call while in-flight,” says Microsoft’s Lync website.
