December 2011
In this issue:

Looking back over my last three decades in computers (actually 34 years now), technology has come a very long way and changed a lot. I saw the introduction of the personal computer, the very first computer networks, email, the dawn of the Internet, only very recently Cloud computing – and now tons of personal mobile devices.

And these new personal devices are now making their way into nearly every business environment in a multitude of ways, but most concerningly as: USB memory sticks or jump drives, smart phones, laptops and tablet computers. These personally purchased and unmanaged devices are becoming integrated into business environments that already had business-purchased and securely managed laptops, smart phones and tablet PCs. In fact, many businesses are now encouraging their employees to BYOD – or Bring Your Own Device.

So now the business networks that we care for are quickly becoming networks of previously un-imanageable complexity. The world of technology is clearly changing again and my business must change too – and find solutions fast!

Our immediate challenges to be answered greatly center around MDM (or Mobile Device Management):

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If you are the parent of a five year old you probably feel that is the worst word in the English language. If you are feeling depressed you might use that word to say “why me?” If you are an entrepreneur, you love that word because it lets you ask the questions, “Why do we have to do it that way? What can’t we do it differently and get a different result?” Depending on your perspective, the word evokes very different emotions.

I drove my parents crazy from an early age because I always wanted to know why something was the way it was. Why do we have to do it that way? Why is the sky blue? Why is it called a chair? Why can’t I do that? You get the drift. When they didn’t have the answer, they made me research it and then tell them what I had found out. This ended up being great training for me and developed my lifelong love of reading, research, learning and questioning.

I still ask my Mom lots of questions but my husband now bears the brunt of me asking him why all the time. Thankfully he often has really great answers that make total sense. I still want to figure out a different way of doing something, but at least he gives me good answers to work from.

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Often times during PowerPoint presentations you might want to share video and audio clips. Doing this means you have to get out of your presentation, find the video file, play it, then get back into your presentation and find the slide you were last on. But what if you could play movie clips and sound files from within your presentation?

If you have these files on your computer, you can!