A technical preview of the new Skype for Business communications and collaboration platform is now available to customers. At the 2015 Convergence event, which is taking place in Atlanta this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella encouraged companies to embrace the open exchange of information and to use intelligent, collaborative tools. In November 2014, it was announced that the next version of Microsoft Lync would become ‘Skype for Business’, and the new client, server and online service would be generally available from April 2015. With the technical preview, existing Lync customers…

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I still remember the first time I did an Internet search. It was both amazing and confusing. Clicking on the first of many matches, I quickly forgot what I was searching for in the first place, but I learned a lot. At least I think I did. That was more than twenty years ago and certainly SEO has improved a lot. So much so, that now we can quickly find more than we want to know about almost anything, including the dirt on almost company, true or not. That sounds…

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One of the biggest complaints leveled at Android smartphones is the plethora of apps, many of which unwanted, that come preinstalled on the devices. Samsung has listened to this and has made the bloatware it installs on the Galaxy S6 user-removable. According to screenshots uploaded to the XDA Developers forum by member Jeshter2000, users are able to uninstall a range of apps including Google apps such as YouTube and Play Store, along with the Microsoft OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype apps. Not only that, but users will also be able to…

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We’re living in a hyper-connected world, an era of pervasive instrumentalization – from wearable technology, to people remotely “speaking” to their home appliances. On a consumer level, digitalized connectivity – made possible through a skein of communications through the Internet of Things (IoT) – has become commonplace, even expected. Indeed, the installed base for Internet-connected devices already exceeded 14 billion by early 2015, and is forecast to mushroom to nearly 50 billion by 2020 according to one estimate. So, what does all this mean for US manufacturers? We’ve explored this question in…

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The job picture for IT workers has changed considerably, thanks to new technologies and shifts in business processes and priorities. This list of in-demand skills may surprise you.   Image: iStockphoto.com/monkeybusinessimages Companies around the world are engaged in a fierce fight for talent. Especially in IT, the growth of new disciplines like big data, a need to understand the business and to be malleable in the face of change, and the impending retirement of legions of highly skilled baby boomers are presenting companies with unique IT hiring challenges. This is forcing…

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I love visiting my father-in-law at his office: it’s like visiting with the great Dicky Fox from the movie Jerry Maguire. He’s been a small businessman all of his life, ever the consummate salesman, and today—even in his 70s—he still has a bunch of new ventures that he’s knocking out. On his back credenza, running off an antiquated PC, is his customer relationship management (CRM) system. It’s not particularly innovative, except perhaps to my son, who thinks it’s neat that it’s all one color—green text on a black screen. So yes, it’s…

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