How to leverage basic tools for advanced productivity

What did you do today? It’s as common of a question in the business World as the dreaded statement “you’re fired”.  And yet, employees seem to find every way possible to simply not get fired; just enough to get by, rather than finding a quick, easy way to answer the first question any time it’s posed.

Don’t get me wrong – I can procrastinate with the best of ‘em.  However, once I made it through college and began my work as a grunt in the top-heavy corporate machine, I was inundated with emails, sticky notes on my desk, and late-night voicemails from my supervisor trying to find out whether or not my TPS report would be ready by EOB the next day (and yes, I always use an up-to-date cover sheet).  I found myself struggling to answer such a simple question.  I honestly couldn’t remember what a TPS report was, let alone whether or not I had actually produced one the day before.  The business world was full of too many acronyms, too many projects, too many questions, too many TASKS to keep track of in my brain.

For all you Microsoft Exchange 2007 users that are constantly on-the-go, I’m sure you’ve become very familiar with Outlook Web Access (OWA).  Just in case you aren’t familiar, here is a brief run down:  OWA is a the handy web application that allows Exchange users to access their Outlook email and calendar information from a standard web browser, regardless of location.  Very cool for those of you that travel or use a shared workstation, but there is one caveat.

As you may have already seen from previous posts, Fpweb.net will be a Gold Sponsor at the SharePoint.Org 2009 Conference in Baltimore, MD on March 22-24, 2009.  This event focuses on educating non-profit organizations and associations on the benefits of using SharePoint (WSS and MOSS) for communication and collaboration needs.  Our team will be exhibiting at the event, plus, our CEO Rob LaMear IV, will be speaking on the topic of SharePoint in a Software-as-a-Service environment. You won’t want to miss it, especially now that we can offer you a discounted rate for the event.

As sponsors, we’ve been given a promotional code, SPCFpweb, that allows attendees to register at the early-bird discounted rate, even when the early-bird timing has expired.   To register at this great price, go to the SharePoint.Org 2009 Conference site, enter SPCFpweb as the promotional code in your registration form and save big!

If you decide to attend, and we hope you will, please take a moment to visit our booth and listen to Mr. LaMear speak.  We look forward to seeing you!  For more details on this event, or to schedule a one-on-one visit with Fpweb.net during the conference, give us a call at 866.780.4678 and press 4 for Marketing.

Also, see our list of upcoming 2009 SharePoint Conferences.

Ah, the language of the Web economy. A world where words like “interoperability”, “accelerators”, “streamlined” and “enterprise” are thrown around as often as ketchup packets in a fast food fight.

When you work with technology, it’s both easy and fun to create catchphrases for the mainstream Internet lexicon. Who ever thought 4 years ago that we would say we were “tweeting“? That one still makes me laugh, but I digress.

For those of who aren’t aware, we send out a monthly newsletter with money-saving I.T. tips, industry event information, details on our fabulous hosted Microsoft technologies and more.  Fpweb.net News already goes out via email to over 22,000 readers and the list grows every day.  If you’d like subscribe to our newsletter, you can sign up here.  Or simply check out the articles on our news page.

This month, you’ll find information on:

Celebrating 10 Years of Sharepoint Hosting – That’s right, we’ve been hosting SharePoint for an entire decade!  As the first SharePoint hosting provider in the industry, find out where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going.

New Hosting Reseller Program – After quite a bit of feedback from our existing Resellers, we’ve revamped our Hosting Reseller Program to make it as effortless, yet lucrative, as possible. Find out how to become an Fpweb.net Reseller and increase your ROI!

SharePoint Tip of the Month: Sorting, Filtering and Custom Views for Document Libraries – Tired of sifting and scrolling through loads of unorganized documents in your SharePoint document library. Well sift and scroll no more. Learn how to quickly sort and filter files to make them more manageable.

Fpweb.net Blog Launched - If you’re reading this post then you’re already aware that we have a blog. But if you’d like a little insight on how our blog came to be and who our bloggers are, then check out this article.

New Certifications – Fpweb.net has gone the extra step to add a few certifications and qualifications to our managed hosting services. Find out what it means for Fpweb.net to be Safe Harbor Certified and USAC qualified.

Fpweb.net Calendar of Events – Check out what conferences we will be exhibiting, sponsoring and/or presenting at in 2009.

What a week. The Internet Retailers Web Design 2009 Conference is over, and I am left sitting back waiting to catch a flight back home, sweet home. At any conference, attendees like myself often get overwhelmed with the sheer number of keynote speakers, messages, and complex – cutting edge concepts that we are presented with. Lucky for me, and I suppose you if you’re reading this blog, there was one message that stuck out.

One message seemed to ring true no matter who was speaking, or what specialty they were representing on-stage. The message was, believe it or not,

Where’s the Cheese?

To simplify moving a large number of files to and from SharePoint libraries, or from one library to another, you can create a Network Place or map a Network Drive that links to the library.  No matter which method you choose, functionality will be about the same.  The main difference is that a Network Place must be accessed via My Network Places, while a mapped Network Drive will show in ‘My Computer’ just as an additional hard drive would.

Whether you choose to map a Network Place or Drive, you will now be able to access the library through a window, without having to login to the SharePoint site via internet browser.  It’s actually quite easy.  All you need is the URL of the library to which you would like to connect.

CRM is the wave of the future, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is a fully developed solution that is extremely cost-effective on a hosted CRM platform. The best part about it is that since it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook, the most used business email client in the world, it is even easier to utilize.

Now the question you may ask is “In order to integrate CRM with Outlook, which version of the Outlook interface do I need to install? The standard online install or the scary (Advanced) Offline Access install?”