Microsoft’s CEO says that Cortana and personal assistants to replace the browser

Windows-10-Cortana-2-e1447645386241

Microsoft’s CEO says that Cortana and personal assistants to replace the browser

By Greg Jordan as written on Microsoft-news.com
Cortana is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Android’s Google Now, both great virtual assistants in their own right, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes that soon assistants like these will replace our web browsers in the future.
At the O’Reilly Next: Economy summit, Nadella spoke on the possibility of users browsing the web through a voice assistant.
“To me, AI is going to happen,” says Nadella during his keynote. “It’s technology that’s inevitable.”
The idea isn’t for the browser to disappear completely, only the way that we interact with it. Instead of using a keyboard and mouse to navigate a webpage, our voice assistants will search the web for us and present that information in a natural way.
Nadella says that it will be perfectly normal to see people walking down the street, talking to their personal assistants.
“‘Hey Cortana’ is in my vocabulary. Having that become more pervasive is my pursuit,” Nadella told the summit.
With Cortana on various Windows devices, and now in beta on iOS and Android, this definitely seems possible.
What do our readers think, can you imagine a future where your only access to the world wide web is your voice assistant, let us know in the comments. Check out the video below to see what Cortana is capable of:

Seven ways Realtors Use Microsoft Dynamics CRM

shutterstock_141772519

Are you a realtor on the go that is looking for a simplified way to manage your current clients as you take on new accounts? Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides you a single place to streamline business operations and manage assets, properties, vendors and prospects in marketing, service, sales and support functions.

Seven ways Realtors Use Microsoft Dynamics CRM

  1. To manage client contact information & notes
  2. To track activities and set alerts for follow-up
  3. To store and access internal/external documents
  4. To execute marketing campaigns
  5. To track opportunities & goals
  6. To capture and track trends from analytics
  7. To generate reports
Since Dynamics CRM is built on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure it can be accessed from any device (e.g. laptop, tablet, phone, etc.) that has an internet connection. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office 365. For information on deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM in your organization, please call us at 800-257-0691.

The new 2016 Excel and Word apps work seamlessly together. Plot, plan, and present with the new Office. Check out Office 365 today to get the new 2016 apps:

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]office365

Try Office 365 to get the new Office 2016 apps!

Office-365-30-day-trial

 

Read customer success stories to learn how Managed Solution helps businesses implement technology productivity solutions.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Collaborate in the blink of an eye with Office 365. It will allow you to keep your OneNote notebooks synced anytime, from anywhere.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Try Office 365 to get the new Office 2016 apps!

Office-365-30-day-trial

 

CASE STUDIES

Read customer success stories to learn how Managed Solution helps businesses implement technology productivity solutions.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Microsoft to discontinue Windows 7 and 8.1 next November

photo 4 windows

As written by Lance Whitney on Cnet.com
After October 31 next year, the only version of the software that will come on new devices will be Windows 10.
Still want to buy a PC that comes with Windows 7 or 8.1 from the get-go? You've got less than a year.
Updated late October, Microsoft's "Windows lifecycle fact sheet" shows October 31, 2016, as the "end of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled" for both Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1, a change spotted by CNET sister site ZDNet. After that date, the only choice for consumers will be to purchase new computers with Windows 10 installed. The lone exception will be businesses with license agreements that entitle them to choose which version of Windows they want preinstalled.
The deadline puts pressure on consumers who have grown comfortable with Windows 7 and are reluctant to upgrade their operating system if they buy a new PC. For Microsoft, it's a necessary step toward its goal of having Windows 10 power 1 billion devices, which underscores the company's message that the new software can tie together PCs, tablets and mobile phones with apps that can run on any of them.
Windows 7 users may not realize it, but they actually caught a break. Microsoft typically sets the end-of-sales date for each version of Windows two years after the release of a new version. That means Windows 7's cutoff date should have been in October 2014, two years after the launch of Windows 8. The lack of consumer demand for Windows 8 prompted Microsoft to keep Windows 7 alive longer than expected.
Users who want to continue running Windows 7 on their existing PCs need not worry. Extended technical support will be available until January 14, 2020, when you'll still be able to get security patches, bug fixes and other updates. The same type of support for Windows 8 will run until January 10, 2023.
Despite the extended deadline for Windows 7 and 8.1, Microsoft is heavily pushing Windows 10.
The new operating system, which launched at the end of July, is available as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 users for the first year. Microsoft has been using frequent pop-up notices to remind those who reserved a copy to install the new operating system. The company has also classified Windows 10 as an "optional update" and early next year expects to change that to a "recommended update," Windows and Devices Group executive vice president Terry Myerson said last week.

Microsoft Skype Announces Share Buttons To Enable Easy Sharing With Skype Contacts

Skype-Button-1024x531

Microsoft Skype announced the share button, which makes sharing to Skype even easier. When you find something to share on the web, click the Skype share button. A window will come up on the page and all you need to do is sign in, pick one or more Skype friends you would like to share with, and click Send. You’ll also have the option to add a message to be sent along with the link to start the conversation.
For our developer friends with blogs and websites, you can also easily add the Skype share button to your site. Simply head over to skype.com to learn more and generate a code snippet today. There are multiple button layouts available and the sharing experience works great for both desktop and mobile sites. So get started and add the button to your site today!
Skype team has partnered with MSN.com to kick off and launch the share button worldwide. In India, they have partnered with sify.com. You can try the new experience in these sites.

Source: http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-skype-announces-share-buttons-to-enable-easy-sharing-with-skype-contacts/

Microsoft Social Share Makes It Easier To Share Your PowerPoint Presentations To Social Networks

0Microsoft-Social-Share-Small

Social Share is a free plug-in in PowerPoint developed through the Microsoft Garage that allows you to share slides and decks to Facebook and Twitter without leaving PowerPoint as an image, album or as a video.

Features:

Source: http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-social-share-makes-it-easier-to-share-your-powerpoint-presentations-to-social-networks/

Wednesdays with Will: From Marketing to Smarketing Leveraging Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Marketing

Wednesdays with Will: From Marketing to Smarketing Leveraging Microsoft Dynamics CRM

By William Marchesano, Technology Advisor & Evangelist
As a Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Marketing, or Director of Marketing you are always looking for new, exciting, and most importantly, efficient ways to build your company’s brand awareness and cultivate new business leads. The little time you have between creating and managing email campaigns, improving your SEO, scheduling webcasts, organizing live events, and countless other tasks, you sometimes wonder if all your efforts are having the effect you desire. What if there was a way to not only gauge the impact you are having but simplify most if not all of these facets to marketing?
Based on the challenges I identified above, you may think I currently work in one of these roles. The truth of the matter is that I work closely with the individuals in my organization that comprise our marketing department, or as they call it, Smarketing. You may now be wondering, “what the heck is ‘smarketing’?”. I’m glad you ask. We define it as marketing smarter and by that we mean, “how can Marketing make the biggest business impact requiring the least amount of time and resources?”. To accomplish this our marketing team leverages a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.
Many of you have most likely heard the term CRM or are currently using one today. In the past, this technology was usually associated with the sales team of your organization. There are many manufacturers out there that offer this platform with Salesforce being probably the most recognizable. But how does it relate to marketing and making your life easier? As you may have noticed, the way people buy today is not the same way they bought 10-15 years ago. Today, the average buyer is at least 57% through the decision making process before they engage a salesperson. The role of an effective marketing team may be more apparent now than ever.
Most organizations have been able to adjust to the shift by the way they communicate and engage with their prospects and clients. In doing so, many are using multiple disparate systems for different tasks such as creating and managing campaigns, nurturing leads, managing clients, tracking appointments and opportunities, taking notes and creating follow-ups/alerts, gathering analytics, etc. Each workload serves a purpose but also consumes a lot of time and, in some cases, money. Luckily there is a streamlined and centralized way of accomplishing these goals with ease of use and management. We have found Microsoft Dynamics CRM to be more than up for the task.
Using Social Engagements in Dynamics CRM, you are able to get insight as to what people are looking for by what is trending on multiple social network sites. That information is gathered and displayed in an easy to understand dashboard. This can be useful for determining the message or communication to your target audience in your next campaign. Once a lead has been captured you can then assign it to a designated nurture path. Lead scoring allows you to determine when a lead has “graduated” from one nurture path and is ready for the next stage. Campaigns can be created and managed directly through Dynamics CRM allowing you to track the cost for running different campaign types as well as analyzing how successful each were. This is a great tool for determining the effectiveness of a campaign as well as how to reallocate your spend more dynamically. If you work in a team setting, the built in approval workflow will help with developing your campaigns. What better way to keep everyone on the same page than a staged process?

 

 

Remember, every business is different as well as their needs and requirements. If you’d like to determine if Microsoft Dynamics CRM can solve your challenges let’s discuss. I hope you enjoyed and found this week’s article informative. If you’re interested in some how-to related CRM material, check out blogs by my colleague Ben Ward here. Till next time…

 

About the author:

Will has over 16 years of experience in business development, team management, and project management. Will has worked at Managed Solution for over four years and is currently advising businesses on best CRM practices and implementations. Will’s focus is on process improvement and analytics specializing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Will is a Microsoft Certified Professional, with certifications in Presales Technical Specialist – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Sales Specialist- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Application, Sales Specialist- Office 365, Sales Specialist- SMB Infrastructure and Sales Specialist- Datacenter.
Other articles by Will Marchesano:
For information on deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM in your organization, please call us at 800-257-0691.