Whether you're a Mac fan or a PC person, I can hand you any laptop in the world, you can log into your Facebook and Google accounts, and do probably 90% of what you need to do. It means that, for a lot of people, one computer is pretty much interchangeable with any other.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
For the last two months, I've been using a Microsoft Surface Studio — a beautiful all-in-one PC, made with the goal of breathing new life into the tired old desktop computer.
It's Microsoft's first-ever desktop computer, following the well-received Surface Pro tablet and Surface Book laptop lines. Starting at $2,999, it's a piece of premium hardware that's not for everyone. Still, I'm here to tell you that for the last two months, this machine has put a grin on my face every dang day. Here's why:
It's tempting to compare the Surface Studio to Apple's iMac all-in-one PCs. They do share a certain design sensibility. But, in my opinion, the Surface Studio is so much more.
Apple
This is the Surface Studio. It's got a giant, gorgeous 28-inch touchscreen display, and comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Just like this, it was enough to engender jealousy and admiration from coworkers.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
It's a fabulous computer, with enough processing power to handle all the tabs, Slack chats, and Steam windows I have open. But luxury doesn't come cheap: The cheapest Surface Studio starts at $2,999; the tricked-out configuration I tested goes for $4,199.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
It even comes with a Surface Pen stylus that magnetically clips to the side, much like on the Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book laptop. Note also that the screen is about as thin as the pen.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
The included Bluetooth mouse and keyboard are, you know, fine. Not great, not bad. But if you have strong feelings about mice and keyboards, you probably have your own already?
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
Flipping it around, the back of the computer shows a little more of what makes the Surface Studio so special.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
(If you're wondering, the back of the machine sports 4 USB 3.0 jacks, an SD card reader, and a mini displayport jack. Microsoft was courageous enough to include a headphone jack, as well.)
Just push down on the screen...
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
...and it totally flattens out! Again, note how thin it is. And the hinges make it easy and oddly addictive to push up and down. There's basically no resistance. It's soooo satisfying. Feel free to make "whoosh" sounds when you push it up and down, as I do.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
Pushed all the way down, the Surface Studio sits at a 20 degree angle, which is perfect for sketching and taking notes.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
I'm not an artist (this house is about as far as my artistic talents take me), but it's slick and responsive and a lot of fun to use that way. I've taken to sketching up photos and notes for friends and coworkers on the fly. But wait, what's that in my left hand?
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
Meet Microsoft's $99 Surface Dial. It was introduced alongside the Surface Studio, but it'll work with any Windows 10 PC.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
The idea behind the Surface Dial is that it's a little gadget designed to complement the Surface Pen stylus. So if you're sketching with one hand, your other hand could be choosing colors.
Matt Weinberger/Business Insider
An important note: While the Surface Dial works with any Windows 10 device, you need to be using a Microsoft-made machine like the Surface Studio or Surface Pro to put it straight on your screen.
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
Some more notes on the Surface Dial:
1. It's super-satisfying to turn, and uses rumble feedback to really give you a visceral "click" when you turn it or push it in.
2. I didn't end up using it much in my day-to-day use. It's neat, but the novelty of using it to change the volume of my music or scroll up and down in Google Chrome wears off really quickly.
3. In theory, the Surface Dial adheres to the Surface Studio's screen when it's in the tablet mode, using a tacky surface on the Dial's underside. But if that bottom of the Surface Dial gets dusty or covered in crumbs, it won't stick to the screen as well. Just, um, trust me on this one.
4. It still works when it's not attached to the screen. Just, you know, see point #2.
And then, when you're done with tablet mode, it folds right back up into a PC again. It's super simple, no muss no fuss. You can bring it up and down like DJ Khaled just walked into the building.
Microsoft
Depending on the configuration you get, the Surface Studio packs a surprising amount of power: It's not exactly a dedicated gaming PC, but you can play titles like "Overwatch" at reasonably high settings. Nice.
Blizzard Entertainment
There are a few neat little bonuses, too. Like the fact that the base is cleverly designed to anchor itself steadily in place, but also somehow be really easy to push around your desk. So if you need to flip it around and show someone your notes, you can.
The back of the Surface Studio's base includes the power cable, which Microsoft claims will never come out even if you slide it around your desk.
Matt Weinberger/Business Insider
Compare all of this with Apple's Macs, none of which sport so much as a touchscreen, let alone the other stuff. Suddenly, the iMac looks a little bit...basic.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Like Microsoft's other recent Surface devices (and a few non-Microsoft machines), the Studio also supports Windows Hello, which lets you log in with your face by looking at the camera. Hello was super neat when it was introduced in 2015, and it's super neat now.
Matt Weinberger/Business Insider
And if you're a Mac fan nervous about the Surface Studio because of Windows 10, don't worry. I came to Windows 10 after years of rolling Mac only... and now I'm a big convert. It's just so much easier to stay organized on Windows 10.
Matt Weinberger/Business Insider
It's not TOTALLY perfect. I'd be lying if I said I didn't run into some oddities with the Surface Studio, most commonly a bug that made it so that the machine didn't connect with the mouse or keyboard until I rebooted.
Wikimedia Commons
But, in general, the Surface Studio is an absolute joy to use. I actually looked forward to coming into the office every day to use my computer!
Darren Weaver/Business Insider
The obvious caveat here is that, as a desktop computer, I couldn't put it in my bag with me at the end of the day. Until Microsoft somehow invents a way to fold a 27-inch touchscreen into a backpack, I guess that's why there's the Surface Book laptop.
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
So, to quote the great sage Ferris Bueller, the Surface Studio is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
In the modern workplace, an organization’s most important assets are its people. The knowledge, skills and expertise found throughout your carefully recruited teams are tantamount to individual and collective success.
All too often, however, this specialized knowledge is obfuscated by physical and organizational barriers. People know what information they need, but are unable to track down the answers they’re looking for. The popular adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” reminds us that the best-connected employees get the most done.
That’s where Office 365 can help. As Microsoft works to reinvent productivity for the modern workplace, our goal is to put people at the center of the connected suite experience. When you’re able to tap into the hidden knowledge throughout your organization and leverage your talent pool, you’re able to achieve more.
Starting today, we’re rolling out an extended profile card experience across Office 365 to enhance the way you collaborate with colleagues and external contacts. We’ve made several big improvements that improve on the existing experience across three pillars to create an intelligent, holistic and integrated profile experience.
Intelligent
Traditionally, employees looking for specific information had to manually connect the dots between people and units of knowledge. By tapping into the Office 365 graph and machine learning, the new Office 365 profile card can identify information relevant to you based on the person you’re looking up. This can help you quickly look up documents that have been shared with you, independent of how they were sent.
Holistic
We’re also working to help employees connect with people across the organization that they don’t traditionally interact with. The new Organization view shows a complete picture of the highlighted user’s position in the company, including their direct reports and co-workers. Office 365 will also surface other people relevant to the person you are looking up based on their working habits and communication.
Integrated
We’re integrating the new profile card everywhere you see a person’s name—but it’s important that the experience doesn’t interrupt your productivity. We’ve made it easy for users to achieve these tasks with as little interruption to their workflow as possible. Hovering over a name provides a quick look at their most important attributes, such as contact details, recent documents and manager. More details are only a click away with the extended flex pane that displays additional information without navigating from the page.
Over the next few weeks, the new profile card experience will begin rolling out in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online for Office 365 customers enrolled in first release. We’ll continue to roll out this service for all Office 365 users over the next few months.
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Los Angeles Position Needed: Business Development Manager
Overview:
Are you a sales leader with drive, passion, and the ability to influence C level decision makers? Do you focus on adding value to your prospects, customers, and internal team? Are you a hunter who builds solid relationships based upon results? We're always looking to add talent to our top-notch team.
Managed Solution has an all-star team with a kick-butt company culture, and we’re excited about what’s ahead. For over a decade, we’ve worked with companies large and small, supporting any and all of their IT needs. We invest in our clients and our staff to bring out the best in both. We’ve been named to the Business Journal’s 100 fastest growing companies for the past five years and stand in the top 1% of Microsoft Cloud partners worldwide. We value high standards, honesty and integrity, proactivity, adaptability and passion. Managed Solution is poised for unparalleled growth and expansion – this is an opportunity you won’t wanna miss!
Responsibilities:
Your Mission? Leverage a deep understanding of Managed Solution’s value proposition to build brand awareness and cultivate consultative relationships, driving new logo acquisitions within an assigned territory.
Key Performance Objectives:
•Develop a robust prospect pipeline by executing to sales plan and agreed upon activities, including a consultative, solutions-based sales approach
•Finding ways to differentiate Managed Solution by acting as a business consultant/solution provider
•Demonstrate hunter mentality: maintain a high volume of activity, including outbound calls, emails, and social selling, as well as researching and identifying new opportunities on a weekly basis
•Diligently preparing for client-facing meetings: understanding pain points, internal stakeholders/resources to create a tailored communication strategy to address business needs
•Leverage social campaigns, marketing materials, and networking activities to build brand awareness with both channel partners and customers
•Maximizing leads and conversion rate utilizing the proven tools and systems provided
•Building, qualifying, and managing an accurate sales pipeline in a CRM environment
•Attending conferences and industry-related events to establish relationships and develop intimate knowledge of industry trends
•Meeting or exceeding sales quota
Qualifications:
•Drive to succeed, discipline, and achievement orientation
•Agility in a dynamic work environment (Willingness to wear many hats!)
•Openness to coaching and feedback regarding activities and technology solutions
•Exceptional listening skills to include hearing what is not said
•Strategic thinking as well as tactical execution
•Story telling skills… the ability to illustrate to a client what success looks like
•Persistence and the need to WIN
Desired Experience:
3 years of Solution Sales experience (Managed Services, Professional Service, Cloud, or other high-tech solution sales experience preferred)
Perks:
•Industry leading compensation and performance incentive plan
•Latest knowledge in cloud based technologies
•Industry growth exceeding 40% per year
•A talented team aligned to win and achieve
•Collaborative, innovative, visionary leadership
•Medical/dental/vision insurance - Managed Solution covers 65% of the employee's cost!
•401k - matching starts at 6 months
•Monthly team lunches, a robust recognition program, & more!
Managed Solution has an all-star team with a kick-butt company culture, and we’re excited about what’s ahead. For over a decade, we’ve worked with companies large and small, supporting any and all of their IT needs. We invest in our clients and our staff to bring out the best in both. We’ve been named to the Business Journal’s 100 fastest growing companies for the past five years and stand in the top 1% of Microsoft Cloud partners worldwide. We value high standards, honesty and integrity, proactivity, adaptability and passion. Managed Solution is poised for unparalleled growth and expansion – this is an opportunity you won’t wanna miss!
Responsibilities:
Acting as a Subject Matter Expert, the Identity and Access Engineer (Active Directory) will design and execute client projects related to Microsoft Active Directory (migrations, transitions, support, maintenance, and implementation). As a highly valued member of the engineer team, you'll consult with clients to identify business requirements and project goals; create a comprehensive Statement of Work (SOW); and deploy projects as assigned.
Qualifications:
•SME-Level proficiency in Active Directory
•Additional experience preferred in some of the following: Forefront Identity Manager, Identity Lifecycle Manager, Azure Active Directory, Oracle Identity Managment, Dell/Quest Identity Manager and Microsoft Identity Manager.
•Generalist server experience (2012 R2, 2012, 2008 R2, 2003, 2000, NT)
•Significant experience (7+ years) in a hands-on technical role; experience designing and implementing solutions (2+ years); or equivalent combination of education + experience
•MCSE (2012) or MCITP preferred
•Understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of various technology solutions and be able to make clearly articulated, tailored recommendations to clients
•Consultative, relationship-building approach to work
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including listening skills
•Adaptability and agility: we work on a range of projects with a diverse client base in a variety of corporate environments
•Passion for technology and demonstrated dedication to continued education
•Demonstrated project experience: gathering requirements, writing a project plan with timelines/deliverables
•Strong attention to detail
•Strategic thinking/visioning
Perks:
•Competitive salary, plus medical, dental, and vision insurance with 65% employer contribution
•401K with employer match starting at 6 months!
•Strong reward program:
•Get connected to your community with twice-quarterly philanthropy efforts
•Paid certifications: Keep on the bleeding edge of new technology with a strong learning culture
Join Managed Solution, one of Southern California’s fastest growing IT companies, as a SharePoint Admin/Developer and thrive!
As a SharePoint Admin/Developer, you’ll be an integral part of a team that is quickly becoming the most respected and well-recognized Managed Services provider in Southern California. As our resident SharePoint whiz, you’ll be responsible for designing and implementing custom SharePoint solutions. You’ll collaborate with stakeholders to understand the Client’s individual business needs and leverage your programming knowledge and SharePoint experience to map needs to a best-fit solution. This is a hands-on role with high visibility where you’ll be rewarded with personal, professional, and technical development while contributing directly to Client success.
Grow your career with us!
Managed Solution has been recognized as one of San Diego’s 40 fastest growing companies, awarded as one of the 40 companies with owners under 40 years old and has been recognized as the 27th fastest growing IT Company in the US. Most recently, Managed Solution has been awarded Microsoft’s partner award for excellence in delivering products and services on behalf of Microsoft Corporation.
Perks & Benefits!
•Feel great with Medical, Vision and Dental Insurance - Managed Solution covers 65% of the cost!
•Earn $$$ - Competitive salary
•Save for the future - 401(k) retirement plan (employer match beginning at 6 months!)
•Relax with vacation and paid holidays
•Be inspired by energetic and friendly co-workers
•Stay current with a Company that is on the bleeding edge of technology
•Initial and ongoing training to prepare you for certifications
Responsibilities:
•Designing, deploying, and administering SharePoint environments on behalf of the company and its clients
•Acting as a customer-facing consultant on OOTB and customized SharePoint solutions
•Developing project timelines and issuing progress reports to keep stakeholders in the loop
•Implementing custom branding solutions and enhance client experience
•Leveraging best practice security protocols to manage SharePoint environments and end-user accounts
•Automating processes to improve efficiency and recommending emerging languages and standards to keep Managed Solution on the bleeding edge of technology
•Maintaining project documentation and libraries
Qualifications:
•A Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related field plus a minimum of 3 years experience administering/developing SharePoint environments (2010/2013/Online) and managing end user accounts. Equivalent combination of education and experience will also be considered.
•Proficiency in programming languages, including C#, .NET, CSS, jQuery, HTML and SQL
•Skills in Windows server, Exchange, Messaging, Design/Documentation, Active Directory administration, Group policy administration, network monitoring tools and security and storage are required.
•ITIL certification preferred.
•To be adaptable and flexible and be able to adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions
•Enthusiasm and a positive “can-do” attitude
•Analytical skills and the ability to solve complex problems
•High standards coupled with accountability and ownership for your work
•A strong work ethic with the willingness and drive to succeed
•To work well within a team and highly collaborative environment
•Excellent oral and written communication skills
•Organization and planning skills with the ability to manage priorities and commitments in a productive manner.
•Excellent customer service skills with the ability to work and communicate with a variety of customers.
Company Core Values
•Provide exceptional service to everyone
•Respect the ones around you and respect yourself
•Always listen and be heard
•Chivalry, caring and common sense should be without limit
•Constantly generate new strategies and creative approaches
•Expect the unexpected, be agile and respond
•Operational Transparency
•Say what you do, do what you say
•Build for today, plan for tomorrow
Join Managed Solution, one of Southern California’s fastest growing IT companies as a Server Engineer and grow your career.
As a Server Engineer you’ll design, implement and remedy SME area specialties in servers (2012 R2, 2012, 2008 R2, 2003, 2000, NT), including virtualization on both Hyper-V and vSphere and/or Citrix XenApp and/or XenDesktop. Additional technical requirements requires knowledge in one of the following areas: Networking or Office365. You’ll be an integral part of a team and will be seen as a server expert by our client base and your teammates. This is a highly visible role where you’ll be rewarded with personal, professional and technical development all while contributing to the long-term strategy of our solutions offerings.
Grow your career with us!
Managed Solution has been recognized as one of San Diego’s 40 fastest growing companies, awarded as one of the 40 companies with owners under 40 years old and has been recognized as the 27th fastest growing IT Company in the US. Most recently, Managed Solution has been awarded Microsoft’s partner award for excellence in delivering products and services on behalf of Microsoft Corporation.
Perks & Benefits!
Feel great with Medical, Vision and Dental Insurance - Managed Solution covers 65% of the cost!
Earn $$$ - Competitive salary
Save for the future - 401(k) retirement plan (employer match beginning at 6 months!)
Relax with vacation and paid holidays
Be inspired by energetic and friendly co-workers
Stay current with a Company that is on the bleeding edge of technology
Initial and ongoing training to prepare you for certifications
Responsibilities:
As a Server Engineer, your mission will be to:
Deploy servers using tools such as desired state configuration, MDT, hyper-v, and WDS.
Act as the point of technical escalation for the Technical Support Center.
Sharpen your sales skills as you act as the presales consultant and collaborate with the sales team.
Work on SOW, RFQ and/or other types of proposals.
Work as a top level support for general Windows, or SME roles for client issues (large and small).
Support companies with over 250 users.
Be an expert on the advantages and disadvantages of each solution and be able to clearly recommend them based on client needs.
Design, implement and remedy Subject Matter Expert area specialties in: Server Generalist (2012 R2, 2012, 2008 R2, 2003, 2000, NT), Virtualization on both Hyper-V and vSphere, Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop, and one of the following: Networking or Office365.
Automate processes to improve efficiency.
Be the Technical Solutions Advisor to your clients.
Qualifications:
Prerequisite Skills:
Candidate MUST be a highly organized and a motivated team player
Candidate MUST have the soft skills to work as a customer facing staff member
Candidate MUST have the drive to learn and work with the cutting edge
Candidate MUST have 5-10 years’ experience in supporting Microsoft environment
Candidate MUST be well versed in either networking or Office365
Candidate MUST be well versed in Windows Server (NT through 2012 preferred)
Candidate must be well versed in troubleshooting
Candidate must understand both internal and external customer service
Candidate should be well versed in Operating System Deployment
Candidate should be well versed in Windows Workstation (NT through 8 preferred)
Candidate should be well versed in Exchange (2003 through 2013 preferred)
Candidate should be well versed in Hyper-V
Candidate should be well versed in Active Directory
Candidate should be well versed in PowerShell and/or VBS
Candidate should be well versed in supporting Office 365
Candidate should be well versed in supporting Lync
Candidate should be well versed in working with all levels of client staff
Some additional highly recommended skills that could help you in this position:
System Center 2012 Administration
Public Key Infrastructure
SQL Server
Linux
You’ll be successful in your mission if you have:
A Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related field plus a minimum of 5-10 years experience in providing server/desktop support in a Microsoft environment. Equivalent combination of education and experience will also be considered.
A strong technical WOW factor – be prepared to share this with us!
Demonstrated project experience with regard to estimates, planning and deliverables.
Demonstrated ability to understand a customer’s needs.
Creativity and innovation and can generate new and innovative approaches to problems.
Enthusiasm and a can-do attitude.
The ability to adapt to multiple corporate cultures as you’ll be visiting many different clients.
Team orientation and reach out to peers and supervisors to establish an overall collaborative working relationship.
Strategic thinking and vision and are able to see and communicate the big picture in an inspiring way.
Windows 2012, 2008, 2003, 2000, NT Experience.
SME level experience in at least two areas specified above and desire to learn new technologies.
Preferred certifications: MCSE: Server Infrastructure, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator, Citrix certifications and VCP.
Citrix Receiver experience strongly desired (preferences is for iPad or Android).
NetScaler experience is a plus!
Flexibility and adaptability and can quickly adjust to changing priorities and conditions.
MCSE (2012 level) or MCITP required.
Excellent oral and written communication skills. Great listening skills too!
Company Core Values
Provide exceptional service to everyone
Respect the ones around you and respect yourself
Always listen and be heard
Chivalry, caring and common sense should be without limit
Constantly generate new strategies and creative approaches
Expect the unexpected, be agile and respond
Operational Transparency
Say what you do, do what you say
Build for today, plan for tomorrow
Think you're a fit? Looking for a challenge? Apply Today!
Check out all of our available positions here
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Expanding the reach of Skype for Business meetings and voice services in Office 365
Three months ago, Microsoft launched Skype for Business Cloud PBX, Meeting Broadcast and PSTN services to provide a complete meetings and voice experience in Office 365. Already, thousands of Office 365 customers are using these services, and many more are trialing them. Today, we’re announcing our first major geographic expansion of these services; new support for hybrid deployments; new, modern meeting room solutions; and improvements to our unified reporting, management and analytics.
PSTN Conferencing available for purchase in 32 countries
As of March 1, 2016, customers in 17 additional countries—Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia and South Korea—can buy dial-in conferencing as part of their Office 365 subscription. Now customers in 32 countries total can simplify their infrastructure using Skype for Business Online for all of their meeting needs, and take advantage of flat-rate, per-user, per-month pricing to simplify budgeting and accounting for conferencing services. Our PSTN conferencing service will include local dial-in numbers in more than 60 countries by the end of this month and nearly 100 countries by the end of June.
New Cloud PBX features and general availability of the Cloud Connector Edition
We’re also pleased to announce that the new Cloud Connector Edition of Skype for Business Server will be generally available starting in April. All versions of Skype for Business Server allow customers worldwide to use Office 365 Cloud PBX with the carrier calling services of their choice, and the new Cloud Connector Edition allows customers to quickly connect existing phone lines and phone numbers to Office 365 by delivering these proven hybrid capabilities as optimized, pre-configured virtual machine images. This summer, we will deliver a preview of our new virtual Organizational Auto Attendant in Cloud PBX, enabling customers to use Office 365 for automated handling of business calls and using speech recognition.
PSTN Calling Preview outside the U.S.
Starting in May, we will offer a preview of Skype for Business PSTN Calling services in the UK. With the preview, customers in the UK will be able to trial number acquisition and assignment, inbound and outbound calling, voicemail and other features—all provided by Microsoft and seamlessly integrated as part of Office 365. Office 365 customers in the UK can register for the preview today at the Skype Preview sign-up page.
Project Rigel—bringing the Skype Meeting experience to every meeting room
Over 97 percent of meeting rooms are currently equipped with traditional projectors or displays and only a telephone for including remote participants. But for meetings to be as effective and engaging as possible requires web and video conferencing with features like screen sharing, IM and whiteboard. Without these capabilities, people lose the benefits of rich interaction, remote participants have a sub-optimal experience and the whole team is less productive due to longer meeting startup times.
Today, we are announcing an initiative, codenamed “Project Rigel,” to address this problem. Project Rigel will bring a Skype Meeting experience pioneered on Microsoft Surface Hub to nearly any meeting room with a display or projector. It will use Windows 10 devices for center-of-room touch control and Skype for Business online meeting technology to easily connect remote users. Hardware partners including Polycom and Logitech will certify elements of their portfolios for use with Project Rigel systems, including the Polycom RealPresence Trio and CX5100, and Logitech ConferenceCam Connect, ConferenceCam GROUP and PTZ Pro Camera. Logitech also plans to deliver a purpose-built smart dock for Project Rigel to seamlessly connect the system elements in a meeting room, while Polycom plans to deliver a portfolio of complete Project Rigel systems. We expect the first systems based on Project Rigel to be available in the second half of 2016.
Connecting traditional video teleconferencing systems to the Office 365 Meeting experience
Roughly 3 percent of meeting spaces today include traditional video teleconferencing systems, or VTCs, from Cisco, Polycom and others. We’re pleased to be working with Polycom on two new efforts to extend the Skype Meeting experience to these dedicated video endpoints. First, Polycom will provide an update to its RealPresence Group Series products, which will add both Office 365 integration and a user interface consistent with the Skype Meeting experience. Second, Polycom will provide a Cloud Video Interoperability service, hosted in the Microsoft cloud, which will enable a wide range of existing VTCs, including Cisco and Polycom systems, to connect to Skype for Business meetings in Office 365 and will include audio, video and content interoperability. We will work closely with Polycom to ensure that Office 365 customers can easily take advantage of this service. Both offerings are expected to be available in the second half of 2016.
Through these innovations, we will deliver with our partners a complete range of video conferencing solutions based on Skype for Business in Office 365, establishing a new standard for cloud, hybrid voice and video capabilities for any business meeting room.
Unified management, reporting and analytics for enterprise communications
Finally, in keeping with our goal to make the Skype for Business management tools powerful and easy to use for IT professionals, we will add powerful management, reporting and analytics tools to our communications cloud in the second half of this year. IT admins will be able to understand usage patterns, analyze call quality and quickly troubleshoot issues in both cloud and hybrid Skype for Business deployments via a single pane of glass within the Office 365 admin portal.
Fishs Eddy began selling vintage tableware with little more than a cash box and a notepad, but as the business grew, it needed technology that could keep pace with its success. After its IT environment crashed during Hurricane Sandy, Fishs Eddy migrated its email to Microsoft Exchange Online and adopted Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Outlook, and Excel, in addition to OneDrive and Skype. Now the Fishs Eddy team can communicate effectively, collaborate remotely, and take the business to the next level.
Where it all started
Doing dishes has been a real labor of love for Fishs Eddy founder and creative visionary Julie Gaines. Launched in 1986 in a tiny storefront on East 17th Street in Manhattan, Fishs Eddy found its niche selling classic, restaurant-quality tableware discovered in the cellars of old China factories, fading hotels, and long-forgotten resorts all along the eastern seaboard.
The dishes are perfectly preserved pieces of Americana, each a history of a town, a graduating class, a special summer. But it’s the remarkable quality of that “made in America” era that’s truly significant. According to Partner Noah Lenovitz, people still come back and say, “I bought that plate 30 years ago, and I still have it.”
According to store history, Fishs Eddy started out with nothing more than a cash box and a notepad. And while this may have been sufficient for a small retail store at the time, it was hardly a platform solid enough to support what would become a multigenerational family business.
The Fishs Eddy team has seen, lived, and worked through a fast-moving technological evolution. Lenovitz points out, “As our business continued to grow and evolve, it was absolutely critical that our software follow along with us.” Social Media Director and Designer Katherine Yaksich adds, “Microsoft products help us really lay out the foundation for the whole thing.”
Onward and upward
For many small companies, the decision to move to a single platform, bring disparate systems together, enhance abilities to work collaboratively, and be productive anywhere with internet access, at anytime, comes after a long period of false starts and ups and downs.
For Fishs Eddy, the decision to change the platform for its quintessential New York store came on the heels of a devastating natural disaster—Hurricane Sandy. Lenovitz, who stayed on duty during the storm, says, “We noticed that our technology was all over the place. People had a lot of data on their local computers, some on our server. We didn’t have anything centralized. During Hurricane Sandy, we lost power and our server crashed, and we saw that we really needed to move our data and programs to the cloud—specifically, our email. So we moved our mail to Microsoft Exchange and adopted Office, which helped improve data security and enabled us to work remotely.”
Seamless growth
There’s always room for improvement, and Fishs Eddy is ever alert for those opportunities. Recently, Gaines hired an assistant and immediately got her up to speed with Microsoft Outlook. As Gaines now reluctantly admits, “Before Outlook, my system was index cards.” Now, Gaines no longer double and triple books her appointments. For all the coworkers, vendors, and artists who work with Gaines on a daily basis, it’s a small but wonderful miracle. And it’s been an easy miracle, too. Gaines says, “I find the Microsoft Office programs very intuitive. I picked them up quickly, and everything makes sense.”
Gaines continues, “We use technology and email to pull all the pieces together. There’s a lot of communication that has to happen.” Yaksich adds, “We always need to share documents back and forth via email, so having reliable tools is essential.”
Anytime, anywhere access becomes even more important when the Fishs Eddy team is working on the go. Gaines says, “I’m rarely just sitting at my desk. I’m in the basement, or getting coffee, talking to investors, so I really live on Office.” Lenovitz adds, “We do have our main location here, but our warehouse is in New Jersey. We’re making customer site visits and working on weekends. As a business owner, you have to have your data accessible.”
Security is key
Fishs Eddy is using OneDrive to collaborate in a highly secure environment—a must for the retailer. From artists posting layouts for Gaines to approve to team members sharing next week’s hours or next quarter’s vacation schedules, employees can use OneDrive to take teamwork to another level.
Additionally, with OneDrive, employees can work on multiple devices, because all work is synced and updated in real time. For Lenovitz, it means he can work on designing, sharing, and accepting real-time feedback on a new catalog and be certain that the latest product list really has the most up-to-date products. Gaines says that keeping things moving smoothly with OneDrive is critical to production: “I’m not even in the office. And next thing you know, we’ve designed a collection.”
All together now
With a strong foundation, the team at Fishs Eddy found that work ran more smoothly. Lenovitz explains, “The backbone of our business is the Windows platform. All our warehouses, logistics, and fulfillment, all our workstations use Windows. The great thing about Office programs, whether it’s Word or Outlook or Excel, is their compatibility with all of our our point-of-sale and accounting systems.”
The Fishs Eddy team also uses Office to keep in touch with its wholesale customer base, which has grown from just a handful of customers to a list of more than 1,000 businesses, including several on the west coast. Lenovitz says, “It’s a little difficult to travel there for face-to-face meetings. Skype has really been important, because it makes the meeting more productive. And to see the person’s face and communicate is great for us.”
A bright future
Business moves quickly, and the Fishs Eddy team continues to work hard to keep up. Gaines notes, “As a small business, we’re always a little bit more in survival mode, so we can’t really afford hiccups. We put a lot of very, very deep concentrated thought into everything we do.” Lenovitz says that Office helps the whole team work together to make faster decisions. “I’m a firm believer that you learn from your mistakes but also your successes,” he says. “And sometimes, a decision is easy: nobody ever gets sick of polka dots.”
Going forward, the Fishs Eddy team is confident that using Office tools will help the retailer provide the flexibility and strength to continue to grow as a New York and global staple. “Using Microsoft products helps us collaborate more effectively, which makes our business more successful,” says Lenovitz. Yaksich is also looking forward: “I think Fishs Eddy has a bright future,” she says. “There’s going to be a lot of growth in the next few years, and hopefully new stores.”
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