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Today, Microsoft Teams separates "Chats" and "Teams Posts and Announcements" into two different areas of its application. While functional, we've seen that it causes confusion in practice as it separates conversations that can sometimes be difficult to track. Recently, Microsoft announced that is going to change: The idea here is to simplify conversations in Teams into a single area for all chats, posts, and announcements. This helps with the goal to make it easier to communicate and locate the various conversations in your organization by finding them all in the same place. The preview for the new features starts rolling out later this month. You can read the entire announcement here . For an even bigger breakdown of what is coming, Microsoft's Teams Blog posted more details with more screenshots here . Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business?   Send in a contact request  or email info@aevotec.com .

Utilizing a Table of Contents in your documents enhances organization and facilitates easier referencing. This user-friendly feature is readily accessible in Microsoft Word and can be applied to any document. How to Create the table of contents Apply Headings to your document to organize it E.g., set a section's title to "Heading 1" In your document, click where you want to add your table of contents Go to "References -> Table of Contents" (You can also search for "Table of Contents") Select an Automatic Table To update the table of contents after making changes to your document, right-click on the table of contents and select "Update Field" or "Update Table". Interested in learning more? Click here . Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business?   Send in a contact request  or email info@aevotec.com .

For years, the Windows "Snipping Tool" has existed to provide a simple and quick method to grab a screenshot or "snip" of your screen to save or copy into a document or message. A couple of years ago, Microsoft released updates to the Tool that enabled better control over how you "snip" and use your screenshots. Even more recently, the ability to record your screen was added! How to record your screen with the Snipping Tool Open the Snipping Tool Open "Snipping Tool" App or, use the Keyboard Shortcut "Windows Key + Shift + S" Select the "Video Camera" toggle Click "+ New" Click and drag an area of the screen you want to record Click "Start" on the top center of your screen By default, you'll see a 3 second countdown Perform the work you want to record Click "Stop" when you are done Edit or Save the Video You can copy the video directly from the Tool You can save the video You can edit the video in Clipchamp if you want to shorten or remove parts of the recording. Done! You can even use Clipchamp to export to a GIF, example below! You can see it in action here: Wrapping Up Adding the ability to screen record makes the "Snipping Tool" an even more valuable tool that is ready for anyone to use! For even more info about Snipping Tool, click here. For more info about using Clipchamp, click here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request or email info@aevotec.com.

The world of Artificial Intelligence is rapidly developing at a rate faster than most people truly understand. As the science evolves so does the numerous products being marketed by major tech companies in all industries. Regardless of what role you play in your organization and whether or not you decide to incorporate AI into your work, it is essential that there is a basic understanding on what AI is and what it isn't. Our goal is that by the end of this post, you feel better equipped to explore and discuss AI in your personal and work lives. This is the second part of a two-part post, click here to read part one. So what the heck is Copilot? Copilot is a platform for AI. The term "Copilot" is heavily used and it can mean many things. But when it comes down to it, Microsoft uses it as a platform for many products. At the current rate, there are new Copilots popping up every week or two and it doesn't seem like Microsoft intends to slow down. Development is moving along so quickly that this article might be dated by the time you read it! We are going to focus on Copilot here, but keep in mind that competitors do exist for some of the products Microsoft is offering. As part of Microsoft's offerings, the business focused AI products offer commercial data protection to protect your data. Each offering should be considered more of an assistant rather than as a robot to do work for you. Here is a breakdown of just some of the Copilots that exist: Copilot A general term for Microsoft's various AI products Copilot for Web An internet connected AI that can analyze and interpret data Similar to ChatGPT Copilot for Edge Browser Basically, Copilot Web, but in your browser. Addes different ways to interact with websites as you browse Copilot for 365 An AI model that has access to your email, messages, and files If you are in the business world, this is the one to focus on! Copilot for Windows Today, this is just an interface on windows that displays Copilot for Web and 365 Soon, this will have more locally processed AI models via Copilot+ (more on that soon) Copilot Studio A platform for creating custom GPTs within the Copilot platform GPTs that can be used internally and externally Another one to focus on for business users! Security Copilot An AI model designed to monitor and secure data within your IT infrastructure. Sales and Services Copilot AI designed specifically for Dynamics ERP/Sales/Services products GitHub Copilot This model literally helps developers write code for applications with integrations for Visual Studio So as a platform, there is a lot. These are just some of the products that exist today with more coming. But that's not all. There are two big components that are going to change things up even further: Copilot Plugins Built into the platform is the ability for a vendor to create a plugin that directly integrates into Copilot. This allows you to give your Copilot access to data sources and take actions outside of the Microsoft ecosystem. Some examples: Your accounting solution could have a plugin that allows you to ask financial questions and then bring those results into Excel Your Document Management System could integrate directly with Copilot so you can ask it questions about every document you have access to A plugin to handle flight or hotel bookings, not just to give you information, but to take the next step of creating the booking for you Your prompt could be sent to a song generation model to create a custom song, extending copilot's ability beyond its own model limitations Copilot+ This is admittedly the most confusing component of the platform. Recently Microsoft and the PC Industry announced the "Copilot+ PC" aka the "Windows AI PC". This announcement actually included two major changes to the computers you knew before: New computers will have the option to use ARM based chips from Qualcomm Much better battery life for laptops. Comparable performance to Intel/AMD x86 chips (though not on Desktop... yet) This doesn't really have anything directly to do with AI, it's just good healthy competition for Intel and AMD We could write a whole article just on this :) Microsoft has created minimum requirements for local AI processing Manufacturers have created Neural Processing Unit ("NPU") chips that are specially designed to process AI Models locally The minimum rating for the local AI processing is measured in Trillion Operations per Second ("TOPS") The minimum requirement to be called a "Copilot+" computer is 40 TOPS Everything we have talked about so far involves cloud processing to run AI prompts and responses. With the exception of hobbyists with expensive graphics processors or certain phones with newer chips, it's not really possible for AI to actually be processed locally on your computer. The goal of Copilot+ is to change that. Today, this doesn't mean much, but it is an essential pillar to the long term strategy that is Microsoft's Copilot platform. Some of the examples given from Microsoft of what a Copilot+ PC will be able to do: Recall The ability for your local comptuer to memorize all actions taken on your computer and help you find information faster than a typical search Note that there are some privacy and security concerns with this feature. Your IT should review it when released before enabling it for your organization! Cocreator in Paint You can draw a sketch in Microsoft paint, then have it create an image based on that sketch Live Captions Real-time captioning and translation during a meeting Studio Effects AI camera and video enhancements Windows will soon receive updates to enable developers to utilize AI models and create AI applications that run directly on your computer if it has the capability of doing so. Today, this won't change much, and much like AI in general, this is just the beginning. As adoption grows, the expected end result will lead to much faster and more intelligent features that don't rely on the cloud to function. At the same time, the technology should become more affordable as it doesn't rely on cloud compute! Wrapping Up If you made it this far, we commend you! AI will continue to be a hot topic in every industry and we hope this post helped provide clarity! For consumers/personal/365 users, try out Copilot for Web: https://copilot.microsoft.com/ For a business, there is more to AI than just enabling it. It is important to pay attention and approach the adoption of any AI solution cautiously, especially in your organization. Take into consideration the impact to your culture and workflows. When ready, consider piloting Copilot for 365 for a small number of users in your organization: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/copilot-for-microsoft-365 This is the second part of a two-part post, click here to read part one. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request or email info@aevotec.com.

The world of Artificial Intelligence is rapidly developing at a rate faster than most people truly understand. As the science evolves so does the numerous products being marketed by major tech companies in all industries. Regardless of what role you play in your organization and whether or not you decide to incorporate AI into your work, it is essential that there is a basic understanding on what AI is and what it isn't. We won't go over all the cool things that AI can do but will aim to provide the foundational knowledge of how it all comes together. Our goal is that by the end of this post, you feel better equipped to explore and discuss AI in your personal and work lives. Let's get started "AI" is an overused term. It's not necessarily that your computer is actually thinking (at least not yet), it's moreso just really smart at calculating things out so quickly that it feels like it is thinking. Let's go with Microsoft's Definition from their Five Pillars of AI Leader's Guide to kick things off: Artificial Intelligence (AI) (1950s): the theory and development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages Machine Learning (1990s): a subset of AI and computer science where algorithmic models are trained to learn from existing data to make decisions or predictions Deep Learning (2010s): a machine learning technique that uses layers of neural networks to process data and make decisions Generative AI (2020s): a type of AI technology that uses algorithmic models to create new written, visual, and auditory content when given prompts or existing data Today, when you hearing about or using "AI", typically this is referring to "Generative AI". Generative AI uses a "Model" which is basically a software that has been trained to simulate human style thinking. A GPT is a model that has been designed to understand how we speak and communicate and then create responses based on that information. If you have used something like ChatGPT or Copilot for Web, you are using a "Generative Pre-trained Transformer" aka a "GPT". It works by telling it something (entering a "prompt") and then it responds based on the information it has access to. A GPT is a model that has been designed to understand how we speak and communicate and then create responses based on that information. This breakthrough has led to this technology being more exciting than ever. Just remember, as smart as GPT is, it is not true "Artificial Generative Intelligence" (AGI). Meaning, it can't actually think for itself. All models today are based on a process called "training" where the model is given extraordinary amounts of data to learn from. So why is this technology so exciting? These new models fall into a couple of categories. If you have been following AI, there are all sorts of different model types that you might have heard of. A few examples might be Large Language Models (LLM), Large Action Models (LAM), or Multimodal Models. Regardless of the type of model, the excitement comes from the ability for the model to analyze, compare, create, and work faster than anything that has existed before. Some examples: A recently released "ChatGPT-4o" from OpenAI is able to have fast and incredible sounding voice chats with you Copilot for Web can gather information on the internet Copilot for 365 can analyze your calendar and help you prepare for your meetings Numerous image models can create brand new art and photos based on your description of what you want to see Notetaking models can listen in on meetings and provide notes, ideas, and action items to organize your conversation Writing models can help draft complete email and text messages Visual models can "see" through a camera and interpret the world around it Audio generation models can create brand new music, with lyrics, completely based on your description of what you want to hear Multiple vendors have models that can read documents, summarize them, and answer questions about the document In action, the technology is just impressive! There are tons of demos and videos on the internet to learn more. There's even this nifty blog post from a great IT company that goes over examples. And that's just what exists today. Almost every major technology on the planet is investing heavily into AI. For many reasons, the results of these investments will dictate who dominates the market as AI solutions mature and become viable for the public to utilize. It's scary too, so be cautious! There are many new problems that AI existing creates. These problems require each individual and organization to pause, think out, and strategize their approach to incorporating AI into their life. On one hand, you can ignore it completely, but more than likely it's coming whether you want it or not. Here's a list of concerns about AI that have been highlighted by experts: 1. **Automation-spurred Job Loss**: The potential for AI to automate tasks and lead to unemployment¹. 2. **Deepfakes**: The creation of convincing fake audio or video content that can be used for misinformation¹. 3. **Privacy Violations**: AI's ability to collect and analyze vast amounts of personal data¹. 4. **Algorithmic Bias**: Decisions made by AI could be biased if the data it was trained on is biased¹. 5. **Socioeconomic Inequality**: AI advancements could widen the gap between socioeconomic classes¹. 6. **Market Volatility**: AI-driven trading and decision-making could lead to unpredictable market behavior¹. 7. **Weapons Automatization**: The use of AI in autonomous weapons systems raises ethical concerns¹. 8. **Uncontrollable Self-aware AI**: The hypothetical scenario where AI becomes self-aware and uncontrollable¹. 9. **Disinformation**: AI's role in spreading false information rapidly². 10. **Safety and Security**: Ensuring AI systems are safe from cyber threats and cannot cause harm². 11. **The Black Box Problem**: Difficulty in understanding how AI makes certain decisions². 12. **Ethical Concerns**: Ensuring AI is used in ways that align with human values and ethics². 13. **Bias**: The risk of perpetuating human biases in AI decision-making². 14. **Instability**: AI systems might behave unpredictably in complex environments². 15. **Hallucinations in LLMs**: Large language models sometimes generate nonsensical or unrelated content². 16. **Unknown Unknowns**: The potential for unforeseen consequences of AI actions². 17. **Environmental Impact**: The significant energy consumption required to train large AI models². 18. **Industry Concentration**: The risk of a few companies dominating AI development and use². 19. **State Overreach**: The potential for governments to misuse AI for surveillance and control². 20. **Role of Human Judgment**: Balancing AI's decision-making role with the need for human oversight³. 12 Dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Built In. https://builtin.com/artificial-intelligence/risks-of-artificial-intelligence AI’s Trust Problem - Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2024/05/ais-trust-problem Ethical concerns mount as AI takes bigger decision-making role. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/ethical-concerns-mount-as-ai-takes-bigger-decision-making-role/ So, after all that, why are we still pushing forward with AI? Well, what it all comes down to is... it's really awesome. Much like technology advancements in the past, this is a technology that will eventually alter how we work, play, and live our lives. That said, as an individual, an employee, leader, and/or organization, it's important to be responsible and careful as you move forward with AI. Some quick notes: It is time to be curious but remain skeptical! There are many companies adding "AI" to their products that might not actually be AI Trusting AI is possible, but the need to verify will continue to be important Watch out for random companies marketing AI solutions to you! Everything that exists today will be nothing compared to where we are in a year or two, things are moving too quick! AI is expensive (for now) There are reasons that chipmakers like Nvidia are setting new profit records. People need processors that are AI capable and there are only so many resources available to make them! Companies and Governments are buying very expensive chips to use for model training and AI development, so expect there to be a cost with any AI that you use! As models and processors evolve, new types of AI processing is becoming available that is more efficient and more readily available "Free" is not Free. If you are using a "Free" GPT, your data is likely the fee. Focus on privacy and the security of your data Unless you are paying for a service (and even some of the paid services do this to) your data may be used to train models. This can create severe security and privacy issues, especially for organizations that need to protect sensitive information. Remember that AI is very fast. If I gave you 1000 pages filled with codes for Amazon gift cards and said you could enter as many as you can in 5 minutes, you'd barely get past page 1. AI can memorize all 1000 pages in seconds, but it might also be able to enter all of the codes and make recommendations and budgets on how to spend it all! Imagine it had access to your personal information or your company databases. There's a lot of good (and bad) that can happen very quickly! AI Vendors and Products are plentiful There are a lot of "AI" products that exist. There are several vendors that are incorporating "AI" into their product. Some might be developing their own models specifically for their product. However, most commercial offerings are tapping into the power of the major AI models owned by OpenAI or Microsoft. OpenAI essentially is dominating the industry in research and development of AI and GPT models Microsoft is a close partner and investor in OpenAI, and has their own iteration of OpenAI's models and technology that has been customized for business and consumer use For the vendor, they are being charged by OpenAI or Microsoft to use their computing resources ("Compute") and then the vendor passes those costs to you via a usage license or subscription. Other major vendors are working on their own models and solutions such as Google Gemini and Amazon Bedrock. Apple hasn't revealed their AI offerings yet, but that is expected to be announced soon (Likely using OpenAI's tech) Then, there are smaller vendors and developers with their own models and solutions that are specializing on specific functions to be used in their own solutions. From our perspective, as of today, Microsoft is well ahead of the pack and has created a foundation and platform that most of the industry is rallying around. If you haven't heard of the term "Copilot" get ready, cause the entire PC industry is planning a major marketing push. Wrapping Up If you made it this far, we commend you! AI will continue to be a hot topic in every industry and we hope this post helped provide clarity! In Part 2, we'll focus on Microsoft's Copilot platform, Copilot+, and the recently announced "AI PC"s that launch in Summer 2024. This is the first part of a two-part post, click here to read part two. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request or email info@aevotec.com.

Microsoft Excel has so many neat and useful tricks and techniques to learn and use. One of the best timesaving shortcuts to learn is how to quickly select rows and columns using keyboard shortcuts. Using "Ctrl" and "Shift" to navigate Excel Let's start by making a table: Now, select a cell in your table and try the following: Hold "Shift" on your keyboard and either use the arrow keys or select another cell Excel will select the cells in between Hold "Ctrl" on your keyboard and then use the arrow keys Excel will jump to the end of the row or column Hold "Shift" AND "Ctrl" on your keyboard and use the arrow keys Excel will jump AND select the cells in between! Use "Space" to select even faster! OK, so now you are a professional Excel Cell Selector. Now, here's a few more keyboard shortcuts to know. Select a cell in your table and press "Ctrl + A" to select all data in your cell: Press "Ctrl + A" again to include the headers in your selection: But let's say you only wanted to pick a column or row? Add "Space" into the mix. Select a cell and press "Ctrl + Space" to select an entire column: Select a cell and press "Shift + Space" to select an entire row: There is a seemingly endless number of keyboard shortcuts available in excel. These are just a couple that we find ourselves using frequently. Interested in learning more? Click here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request or email info@aevotec.com.

Note: Our focus in this post will be on Microsoft Copilot for 365, but the mindset applies to any AI productivity platform. Talk to your IT provider to help you find the best solution for your Business. If it hasn't already, AI is going to impact your industry.  We are already seeing differences in productivity between a business, application, or even an individual that is "AI Enabled" and one that is not. If you are not up to speed on AI technologies for your Business, it's time to catch up. If it hasn't already, AI is going to impact your industry. A few months ago, we wrote about 3 objectives every business should focus on by the end of the year. As part of that post, we wanted to communicate that AI is coming and to be cautiously excited about the impact of AI in your industry. And now, only a few months later, Business Productivity platforms such as Microsoft Copilot and Google Duet are not only readily available for most businesses, but the cost of entry has also dropped significantly. At the same time, the capabilities, accuracy, and speed of AI solutions are rapidly improving. Microsoft enables smaller businesses to use AI "Copilot" is the branding Microsoft is using for their various AI products. The capabilities of the different Copilot products will vary, and their cost will range from "Free" to "Included with your existing license" to a completely new product to purchase. The upgraded business product, "Copilot for 365", adds a new level of privacy and security while adding AI capabilities to most of the Microsoft 365 platform and app suite. New features are rapidly being added as the platform evolves. On January 15th, 2024, Microsoft announced that they had removed the 300-seat purchase minimum for their business offering "Microsoft Copilot for 365". At $30 per month, per user (with a 1-year commit), the cost for any business to explore this new technology went from $108k to $360 for a year! This announcement enables every business of any size to utilize the AI capabilities that were previously only available to larger companies willing to make a much larger investment. That's a big deal. This means that instead of turning this on for 300 people to test it out, you can do a small, controlled pilot to explore what copilot can do. So why should you be testing AI right now? AI solutions like Copilot are capable of doing many tasks. There is a lot of excitement about all sorts of content it can create. It can be used to create videos, review content, generate pictures, and draft documents. Regardless of the capabilities, here are two goals AI solutions should accomplish: Help you do more in less time. Improve the quality of your work. With the recent release of Copilot for Microsoft 365 those goals are easy to realize. Let's go through some examples that you might be able to relate to. Catching up on Email Let's pretend you had a sizable email chain with a lot of back-and-forth messages. In the past, you needed to open Outlook, go to your email, and then scroll through each message and sort out what was and wasn't important. When you are AI-Enabled, your Copilot can do this for you: In the current version of this feature, you click "Summarize" and Copilot will provide a summary of all relevant communications with sources for you to review as needed. Notetaking and action items in a Microsoft Teams Meeting Imagine being in a meeting and you brought with you your own personal notetaker who happens to be a genius that is able to listen to everything at once while writing down notes and creating to-do lists based on action items at the same time. That's how Copilot in a Teams Meeting works. You enable your Copilot, and it listens, takes notes, and is ready to answer questions related to your meeting in real-time. An example of a real "Action Item" list we asked Copilot to create after a test accounting meeting below: "Make me an action item list from this meeting" Action Items: Payroll taxes: • Make sure that no state tax withholding is accurate. (Bob) 1 Nevada residency: • Finish Updating homestead exemption (Bob) 2 Financial statements: • Clean up the marketing category and verify accuracy in Quickbooks.(Bob)3 Tax return: • Send the December ST1 report and the bank reconciliation report to Sally. (Bob) 4 • Get the tax return moving and have a preliminary K1 ready for the February meeting. (Sally) 5 Nexus and allocation: • Determine the portion of Company income and expenses that are attributable to States respectively. (Sally) 6 The list included every single action item we expected it to create. It's scary, it's amazing, it's the future. You need to try this and see this in action as soon as possible. Create a PowerPoint Template in Seconds In less than a minute, you can have copilot create you a presentation template with images, videos, and content to kickstart. For the example above, all I did was type a request to make the presentation and then export it to a GIF. That's it. If this was a real presentation, this would give me a base design to work with. I could then tweak, add content, and rearrange my slides as needed. AND.... Copilot also gave me speaker notes to use for the presentation: And now for words of caution Those were just 3 quick examples of capabilities out of a seemingly infinite number of features available today or coming soon to Copilot. However, Copilot and AI in general is an assistant, not a replacement. The version of AI you are using today is the worst version you will ever use. Tomorrow it will be smarter, more accurate, and more capable. You still need to learn how to use the tool and how to teach and verify what it knows. Much like any good tool, it's still only as useful as the person that wields it. Directly from Microsoft: By now you may have heard of horror stories from people using AI to do work for them. Almost every story out there is an example of how to NOT use AI. These horror stories generally exist because someone used AI improperly. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind: Prepare your Staff Discuss with your leadership and management teams on how workflow will evolve once you are AI Enabled Educate your Staff on how to safely and securely use your business' AI solutions. There is a large difference between consumer and business solutions, especially when it comes to privacy and data security. Old Computers and Servers need to be dealt with Modern computers with data stored in modern locations like Microsoft 365 are essential for a good experience. You won't be able to take advantage of all capabilities if you are using legacy solutions and dealing with problems caused by old tech or poorly run IT. Don't skip proper Identity and Access Management AI can think, read, and process faster than you realize. Users of your data should only have access to what they need. (Their copilot can access what they can access) You absolutely must use modern security methods (such as MFA) to secure your copilot from malicious and unauthorized use. So let's wrap this up It's time to start seriously paying attention to AI for your business. If you reached the bottom of this post, you've already taken the first step of being curious enough to start reading about it. Next up is to evaluate your IT environment to make sure if it is ready for AI. (If you are currently an Aevo customer, it's ready.) After that, it's time to pilot. Seeing your copilot in action is the best way to explore and evaluate. You now can do this with just a handful of people or just a single person. We're recommending people in positions of leadership or workflow managers to start testing things out first. If you are a current customer, we can do a quick introductory demo and training of Copilot with you anytime, just shoot us an email. Copilot can be added very quickly when you are ready to do so. If you are not a current customer, reach out to your IT or reach out to this company that specializes in IT Management and Business Modernization. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request or email info@aevotec.com.

Most modern Windows laptops utilize multi-touch touchpads that support all sorts of features that you might not know about. Did you know that you can slide 3 fingers up on your touchpad to view all open windows? How about the fact that you can pinch to zoom in and out like you would on your phone? Ever wish your cursor would move a little bit faster or slower across the screen? These kinds of multi-touch settings are available, but also are configurable to your preference! How to Access Touchpad Settings Sure, you could go into settings and find this, but it's about to be 2024! Use the built in search function to find what you need! Click the Windows Button (or press the windows key on your keyboard) Type "touchpad" Select "Touchpad settings" Explore the Touchpad settings screen Use the slider to adjust your cursor speed. You can change how "taps" work to make your touchpad work the way you like! Coming from a different device that scrolls down by sliding two fingers down or just prefer it that way? Switch your scrolling direction in the "Scroll & zoom" section Configure your Three-finger and Four-finger gestures to work just the way you want them to. Hate that something pops up when you tap? Turn it off! Wish it did something else? Change it! Remember that these settings will take effect as soon as you change them. If you ever need to revert your changes back, simply go back into the Touchpad settings and update your preferences. To learn more about this, click here! Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request or email info@aevotec.com.

Working in the IT industry, you learn a lot of acronyms and vocabulary that ends up sounding like its own language to the outside world. Blending those technical terms with business terminology makes it very easy to get lost in a labyrinth of words and letters. Inside that labyrinth there are terms with significant meaning that requires even more words and letters to explain their meaning. Often times, you can associate some of these terms as just hot buzzwords. Terms like "Customer-centric", "Corporate Synergy", "Ecosystem Development". It can be very easy to just write off many of these phrases as just marketing mumbo jumbo. And, in some cases, that's all they might just be! You might reflexively write this term off, maybe even think that it doesn't apply to you, that would be a mistake. "Digital Transformation" sounds a lot like just another buzzword, especially for those outside looking in. You might reflexively write this term off, maybe even think that it doesn't apply to you, that would be a mistake. Defining "Digital Transformation" According to Wikipedia, Digital Transformation is the "adoption of digital technology to transform services or businesses, through replacing non-digital or manual processes with digital processes or replacing older digital technology with newer digital technology. " So, does that just mean emailing stuff instead of faxing stuff? Yes. But it can mean a lot more. Oh, so by more, you mean things like identity management and automation? Yep, but even more than that! At Aevo, we say Digital Transformation is a mindset. It's a part of your culture and lifestyle. It's an unavoidable component to technology that has become part of our world. It's the idea of embracing technology and integrating it into our lives, our workflow, and our culture. When we say it's unavoidable, it's because it is. When was the last time your wrote someone a letter to say hello? Have you ever sent a telegram? Have you noticed that you use your phone as a phone less and less? Know anyone who won't pick up a phone call, but will reply to a text without hesitation? For better or worse, it's a natural part of our society embracing technology. We say Digital Transformation is a mindset. Digital Transformation is a mindset of not just investing in technology for the sake of technology, we aren't talking about having the latest and greatest computers, smartphones, or gadgets. It is a state of mind that identifies the right technology as an investment rather than an expense. So, what does this have to do with my business? We see three main components to technology in your business: Infrastructure e.g. computers, servers, data, and networking equipment Software The applications used in your business to get things done People The identities and workflows that they follow Your People follow workflows that utilize Software that relies on your Infrastructure. Each component needs to be protected, supported, and maintained. There's a cost of time, licensing, and equipment to bring it all together. It's very difficult to run a business without these components. Without a Digital Transformation mindset, things just exist. You might have some great technology that is used in your business, but not really integrated with many workflows. Technology is a necessary burden. With a Digital Transformation mindset, things exist with purpose. You are equipping your Company and Staff with tools to be more efficient and improve the quality of their work. Technology helps your business evolve, it is part of your company's culture. With a Digital Transformation mindset, things exist with purpose. Adopting this mindset accepts the idea that every business is a technology company. This doesn't mean you are throwing away every old idea and process, it means your Business has an ongoing strategy to enhance itself with technology. In some cases, that could mean equipping your Staff with software and training that you currently don't have. However, it also can mean smaller objectives like a monitor upgrade or documenting your internal processes so everyone is on the same page. Got it. So how does a "Digital Transformation" actually work? Whether you are a member of a team, the manager of a department, or part of leadership, you are the most important component to beginning or advancing your Company's digital transformation. It doesn't matter if you are a team of 10, 50, or 1000. Start with these three questions: Do I trust our technology? If your IT support or infrastructure is not reliable, secure, and stable, then that's the first place to begin. Do I have the right software to do our jobs efficiently? If your core business software is out of date or you aren't using modern platforms like Microsoft Office 365 or Google Workspace, it's time to get updated! Do I feel equipped to use the technology available to me? If you or your Staff aren't trained and empowered to utilize your technology investments properly, you are not just wasting time and money, but it's likely adding unnecessary challenges and frustration in your workplace! From there, communicate with your team, management, and IT resources. Learn about your existing workflows, the technology you have invested in, and potential solutions you might not have invested in yet. If your IT support or infrastructure is not reliable, secure, and stable, then that's the first place to begin. Maybe you already have solutions with potential that was never unlocked. Or, maybe it's time to invest in new software to help you solve problems that couldn't be solved before. It could be that your industry demands you to digitize every department to stay competitive and compliant. Or, maybe just a few steps in the right direction is all you need. The right path forward is going to be different for every business. Either way, the idea of dropping in new technology and expecting it to magically work out is not going to lead to a good result. Take it slow, plan carefully, start small, and be prepared for roadblocks. The Business, top to bottom, needs to take ownership of the process. Just as you need to set your people up to succeed, your digital transformation needs to be set up for success. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

As we enter the last couple of months of the year it's important to line your business up for success in 2024. While that's certainly a loaded statement, here are three technology-focused objectives that you should consider taking on. 1. Take inventory of equipment and retire old technology Now is a great time to take an inventory of servers and computers used at your business. A review of inventory helps you plan and budget for 2024 and can help prevent older technology from falling off your radar. This inventory review should cover any networking and computer equipment used at your organization, including software. On October 10th, 2023, Microsoft's "Server 2012" operating system officially reached end of support. Security updates and general support from Microsoft are no longer available. If you have servers running anything older than "Windows Server 2016' or any workstations/laptops using anything older than Windows 10 or MacOS11 you are facing serious security risks and likely are not compliant with standards or insurance policies that apply to your business. If you are using unsupported software, we strongly recommend working with your IT resource to put together a plan to retire this old technology as soon as possible. Don't have an IT resource or the fact that you are in this situation is making you wonder if you have the right IT resource? Consider using this company to help. 2. Grow the security mindset in your organization Phishing is still the preferred attack vector by malicious hackers. After all, the latest and greatest security technology in the world becomes very ineffective if someone just opens the door for them. There are tons of ways to improve security at a business, they are all important, but none of them are as important as developing the security mindset and culture of your organization. This starts with consistent education and communication internally about the importance of cybersecurity in your organization. You can also implement a security awareness program to help with training, testing, and to drive conversation about good security practices. Speaking of good security practices... it's 2023, so you are already using multi-factor authentication (MFA) to secure the core components such as your remote access, email, and key business applications, right? After all, it's one of the best and easiest ways to reduce the risks of a compromised identity at your organization. A goal should be to expand that MFA integration with all applications used in your business, implementing Single Sign-on (SSO) whenever possible. This will improve security, reduce identity compromise risks, and provide a better experience for your staff. If you are working with a vendor that doesn't support MFA or SSO, consider that a major red flag! If MFA hasn't been implemented in your business, we need to talk. You can stop reading and call (872) 215-3060 or send an email to info@aevotec.com with your contact info and we'll reach out as soon as possible. 3. Educate yourself on AI Ready or not, AI will soon disrupt our lives in ways that aren't necessarily visible to the untrained eye. If not directly, then your industry will be impacted indirectly through AI's integration into the various technologies your business relies on. When this technology first showed up, you could ask it a basic question and get an answer. Now you can say things like "Read my meeting notes and make me a to-do list". Today, AI technologies like ChatGPT and Dall-E are capable writing emails, creating templates, and generating ready to use images in seconds. Microsoft and Google are both racing to implement AI into their productivity solutions. Microsoft is rolling out "Copilot" which will be able to generate complete documents that securely pull data from your business applications and from trusted industry databases. How AI integrates into our work will take time to sort out, but the technology is rapidly developing. There will be a major difference in productivity, quality, and capability of a business using AI vs a business that does not. That does not mean "Drop everything and start using AI". Our recommendation is to be cautious and educate yourself on how AI could be used in your business. Test it out and explore its capabilities in a pilot when you are ready to do so. You don't want to be caught off guard by the impact this technology will have on your industry or business! Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Did you know that built into Outlook is a modern polling system just waiting for you to use? Not only is it easy to use, but it includes easy to view real-time results as well as a quick way to export data into Excel if you want to dive into the details. How to create a poll in Microsoft Outlook 1. Open a New Message In Outlook 2. Fill out your email with recipients and your message as needed 3. Go to Options -> Poll 4. Fill out the the questions and options in the "Poll Pane" 5. Click "insert poll into email" when you are ready to send to your recipients . 6. Your recipients will receive an email with options to vote 7. You can view your results anytime by opening your sent email or viewing your poll at https://forms.office.com But wait, there's more! The Polling feature is actually using Microsoft Forms behind the scenes to run the entire polling operation! Forms can be a fantastic tool to evolve and digitize your internal processes. If you don't see the Polling enabled in Outlook, reach to your IT to help get you set up. Keep in mind that the ability to send a poll outside of your organization may require adjustments to your security policies. You can learn more about the polling feature here. You can also learn more about using Microsoft Forms here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Notetaking is an essential ingredient for staying organized. Whether you are using software to document tasks, a physical notebook, or a digitial notebook, taking notes has numerous benefits. If you have Microsoft 365, you have one of the best digital Notebooks available to you, OneNote. There is a lot you can do with OneNote, but did you know you can quickly take Outlook meeting notes with just a couple of clicks? Inserting Outlook Meeting Details Into OneNote Use this to add meetings into OneNote. Very useful if you already have a page you want to use or prefer to start in OneNote. Open OneNote Select A Page To Insert Details Into Click the "Home" Tab if it isn't already selected Click "Meeting Details" Select the Meeting you want to add details Done! Send Meeting Details From Outlook to OneNote This method starts in Outlook and ends in OneNote and is the fastest way to get your meeting details into OneNote if you don't already have it open Open Outlook Open an Appointment In Your Calendar (Also works with an email!) Select "Send to OneNote" Select "Take Notes on your own" or "Share notes with the meeting" Select a notebook / location to create the OneNote page with your meeting details Done! Wrapping Up It's no secret we are huge fans of OneNote. But, regardless of our preferences, improving your notetaking habits is always a good thing to focus on! You can learn more about taking meeting notes here. For a free full online video training class on OneNote, click here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Windows Server 2012 R2 is a server operating system that was released by Microsoft in 2013. It offers features such as virtualization, cloud computing, storage, networking, security, and management. However, Windows Server 2012 R2 will reach the end of its support lifecycle on October 10, 2023. This means that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates for this product after this date. Organizations will face increased security risks, compliance issues, performance problems, and compatibility challenges if they do not migrate to a newer version of Windows Server or move to the cloud. Moreover, they will miss out on the benefits of the latest innovations and features that Microsoft offers in its newer products. This means that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates for this product after this date. Therefore, organizations should start planning and preparing for their migration strategy as soon as possible. Microsoft has provided migration guidance and resources for both cloud and on-premises solutions. Some of the options available are: Migrate to Azure and receive up to three years of free Extended Security Updates (ESUs). Customers can migrate their applications and databases to Azure Virtual Machines and receive free ESUs for three years after the end of support. They can also use Azure Arc to manage their on-premises servers and receive automated/scheduled ESU updates as well as the security and governance capabilities in Azure. Remain on-premises by upgrading to Windows Server 2022 or purchasing ESUs. Customers who need to stay on-premises can upgrade to Windows Server 2022, which is the latest version of Windows Server that offers improved security, performance, hybrid capabilities, and innovation. Alternatively, they can purchase ESUs for Windows Server 2012 R2, which will provide security updates only for up to three years after the end of support. ESUs are renewable on an annual basis until October 13, 2026. Migrate to another platform or vendor. Customers who want to switch to a different platform or vendor can explore other options such as Linux, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Oracle. Regardless of the option chosen, organizations should act fast and take advantage of the migration tools and services that Microsoft and its partners offer. By migrating to a newer or cloud-based solution, customers can enhance their security posture, optimize their costs, increase their agility, and unlock new opportunities for innovation and growth. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Did you know that you can create maps using your Excel data in just a few clicks? You can use these visuals in presentations, reports, and more! How to create a Map Chart in Excel: Create a table with data Make sure the table has a column with high level geographic data (e.g. State) Go to the Insert Tab Select Maps Select Filled Maps To learn more about using maps in Excel, click here! Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Love em or hate em, robots will soon become a big part of our life. From physical robotics to artificial intelligence, the technology is evolving at a very rapid pace. AI tech is only going to continue to get more important as major companies continue investing heavily into AI. One of the most promising Language Models is ChatGPT from OpenAI. GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer) ChatGPT is sort of like a chatbot that has been trained to have very human-like conversations. It's intelligent enough to understand natural language and can answer complicated questions. For this post, we are going to show off how ChatGPT could assist with basic technical support questions. How do I create a Microsoft Form to poll staff to see if they want pizza or tacos? CHATGPT To create a Microsoft Form to poll staff on their preference of pizza or tacos, you can follow these steps: 1. Go to the Microsoft Forms website (forms.office.com) and sign in with your Microsoft account. 2. Click on the "New" button to create a new form. 3. In the form editor, add a multiple-choice question by clicking on the "Multiple choice" option in the "Questions" menu. 4. Type in your question, such as "What would you like for lunch? Pizza or Tacos?" 5. Add the options "Pizza" and "Tacos" as answers to the question. 6. Customize the form as desired, such as adding a title and a description. 7. Publish the form by clicking on the "Send" button and then selecting "Link" to get a link to the form, or "Embed" to add the form to a website or email. 8. Share the link or embedded form with the staff and they can respond with their preferences. How much ram should I get in my new laptop? CHATGPT The amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) that you should get in a new laptop depends on your usage and the type of tasks you will be performing on the laptop. Here are some general guidelines: - 4GB of RAM: This is the minimum amount of RAM that you should consider for a new laptop. With 4GB of RAM, you can perform basic tasks such as web browsing, email, and document editing, but you may experience slowdowns and lags when running multiple programs or working with large files. - 8GB of RAM: 8GB of RAM is a good option for most users. It provides enough memory for most tasks and allows you to run multiple programs and browser tabs at the same time without significant slowdowns. This is a good choice for general usage, video editing, or gaming. - 16GB of RAM: 16GB of RAM is recommended for heavy users who work with large files, run multiple programs at the same time, or use memory-intensive applications such as video editing software, graphic design software or gaming. - 32GB or more: This amount of RAM is recommended for professionals or power users who need to run multiple memory-intensive applications simultaneously or perform tasks such as video editing, 3D rendering, or scientific simulations. Please note that the amount of RAM you need also depends on the specific needs of the applications you are running, and some specific applications may require more or less RAM than the general guidelines above. How do I send a delayed email in Microsoft Outlook? CHATGPT In Outlook, you can schedule an email to be sent at a later time using the "Delay Delivery" option. Here's how: 1. Compose a new email message or open an existing one. 2. Click on the "Options" tab. 3. In the "More Options" group, click on the "Delay Delivery" button. 4. In the "Properties" window, check the box next to "Do not deliver before" and set the date and time for when you want the email to be sent. Click on the "Close" button. 5. Send the email as you normally would. Note that this feature requires that your computer is connected to the internet and Outlook is running for the email to be sent at the scheduled time. Additionally, you may also use the "Rules" option on the Outlook to set a specific time for sending an email, this way you don't have to manually set the time for each email. How do I enable the hotspot on my iPhone? CHATGPT To enable the hotspot on an iPhone, you can follow these steps: 1. Go to the "Settings" app on your iPhone. 2. Tap on "Cellular" or "Mobile Data" 3. Tap on "Personal Hotspot" or "Hotspot" 4. Toggle on "Personal Hotspot" or "Allow Others to Join" 5. You may also be prompted to set a password for your hotspot, if you 6. wish to set a password, you can set one here. 6. Once you have enabled hotspot, you will see the hotspot status at the top of your screen, your hotspot is now active, and other devices can connect to it by searching for Wi-Fi networks and selecting your iPhone's hotspot network. 7. You can also see how many devices are connected to your hotspot by going back to the Personal Hotspot settings. Please note that your mobile data usage will increase when using the hotspot feature, so make sure to keep an eye on your usage. Pretty crazy right? Every response above was unedited and direct from ChatGPT. The responses took a few seconds and even included the numbering/bullet formatting. Also, every single image on this post was generated by AI as well with Stable Diffusion! Hey ChatGPT, would you be interested in writing a blog post for Aevo's website soon? CHATGPT As an AI, I do not have personal preferences or the ability to write a blog post for any website. However, I can certainly assist you in generating content for your blog post. Please let me know what topic you would like me to write on and what are the specifics you would like me to include in the post. I'll be happy to help you. As this technology continues to evolve, we expect to see it integrated into many of the applications we use today. There are already plans for ChatGPT and similar tools to be integrated directly into various cloud computing and business software suites in the near future. Learn more about OpenAI and ChatGPT here. Learn more about Stable Diffusion here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.