Technical English Seminar

It's super exciting to be a part of tonight's Technical English Seminar at VTC Academy.  This started off as another Tech Tak Tuesday presentation, but thanks to the support of VTC Academy, we've got quite a crowd coming tonight.  Here's the slides for the first part:

2015 Internet Trends Report (Summary)

From Mary Meeker of KCPB

Internet usage growth is slowing

  The growth is slowing with about 40% of the world with full internet access at home.  Nearly 3/4 of us have access from mobile phones, but only about 3 billion of that 5.2 billion number have smartphones. That's just a bit more than the 2.8 billion users who have full internet access.

and the US Dollar leads the web

11 of the 15 biggest internet companies are American.  The other 4 are from China.

but Asia is growing the fastest

Internet Growth

China Users = +7%, USA = +2%, India = +33%, Japan = Flat, Brazil = +4%

Smartphones

China Subs = +21%, USA = +9%, India = +55%, Japan = +5%, Brazil = +28

China is close to surpassing the US in percentage of the global GDP.

and Messaging Platforms are the Killer App.

Government, Healthcare, And Education Are Huge Opportunities

"The Internet has already transformed the consumer and business space, where entrepreneurs can build products that meet their needs or solve pain points. Larger, more regulated spaces that are less accessible or comprehensible to the average entrepreneur have seen less Internet-driven innovation, and are essentially sitting ducks for startups." - Tech Crunch Summary

for Enterprise Entrepreneurs

        "‘Enterprise’ Internet Entrepreneurs Often Pursue Prior Company Pain Points" - Slide 30

The most successful businesses have already moved to the cloud

stripe.com Online Payments
domo.com Business Intelligence
docusign.com Digital Signatures
intercom.com Customer Service
gainsight.com Sales Management
directly.com Support Center
zenefits.com Human Resources
anaplan.com Enterprise Planning
greenhouse.com Recruiting
checkr.com Background Checks
guidespark.com Employee Training
envoy.com Enterprise Check-in
apptrain.com Me.  That's my company.  You get me working for you :)

and of course have significant financial resources

"KPCB is a venture capital firm that owns significant equity positions in certain of the companies referenced in this presentation, including those at www.kpcb.com/companies - Slide 180"

Meanwhile, users are creating and curating content

Web users are becoming the trusted news reporters and product reviewers.  Young people today are creating their internet.  People debate and work through serious issues, for example:

Just outside the internet, we're learning that drones are useful for better things than killing people

Agriculture

This quarry hole is mine!

Inspections

Disaster Relief

A word of caution,  you are responsible for securing your data 

Lost devices, insider breaches, spyware all contribute to security breaches.

Still the workplace moves forward online, and becomes global

Service jobs are replacing goods producing jobs, with cognitive jobs growing the fastest.  More people than ever work remotely with flexible hours.  Consumers expect instant response, so businesses are open 24 hours.  Which reminds me, I've got work to do.  It's 9 AM somewhere!

What Is Codenvy? by Codenvy

An IT Department at your fingertips : Amazon's EC2

Amazon Web Services is an essential tool for a versatile software consultant. It gives us a vast array of possible configurations. This comes in handy when working out new ideas. But it's also great for installing and testing legacy code.

EC2 - Virtual Servers in the Cloud

The EC2 tab lets us create virtual machines of many flavors. You can test out AWS for a year using the free usage tier.

Don't have a copy of windows handy? Spin up an EC2 instance with Windows, then connect using remote desktop software.  You can also use a Linux box any time you desire.

There's much that can be done with these instances, even install X-Windows on a linux instance and connect from a Chromebook using Chrome Remote Desktop.

The App Train for your Business (InfoGraphic)

Top 10 Cloud Apps for your Business introduced apps often used from the cloud. There are several vendors to chose from when implementing these apps. The infographic above shows some of the many options available.  Each vendor has their strengths. Choosing the right vendor depends on your needs and preferences.  Contact AppTrain for help with your cloud solutions.
Email
Gmail
Outlook
HyperOffice

Document Management
Google Drive
Zoho Docs
SkyDrive
Dropbox
Amazon S3
Box.net
iDrive

Project Management
Teambox
Unfuddle
Sharepoint
Zoho Projects
Basecamp
Podio
Salesforce Do

Website Publishing
Wordpress
Blogger
Joomla
Drupal

Accounting
Freshbooks
Quickbooks
Zoho Invoice
Invoicera
Ronin
Harvest

Customer Relationships
Salesforce
Leadmaster
Microsoft Dynamics
Sugar
Zoho

Mailing Lists
Mailchimp
iContact
VerticalResponse

Version Control
Unfuddle
Github
Beanstalk
Bitbucket

Issue Tracking
Unfuddle
Basecamp
Bugzilla
Redmine
Fogbuzz
YouTrack

Site Monitoring
Altera
MxToolbox
Uptrends
Serviceuptime

Top 10 Cloud Apps for your Business

Cloud Computing has graduated from being a technology buzzword to being an essential part of any business or organization. Let's take a look at the main categories off apps that have made the move from shrink wrapped software installed on our local clients, to web based clients that we can run from anywhere. Each of the ten apps covered here are provided by multiple vendors. Example apps are provided. Some of the leading vendors for each category are mentioned, along with a few AppTrain favorites.  Additional cloud apps for your business are listed in The App Train for your Business infographic.

1. Email

Email was the first business app that moved to the cloud. Even legacy organizations that still operate email servers now accommodate employees with web based email clients. In the AppTrain email comparison in March, GMail and Zoho Mail emerged as the front-runners for Email in the cloud.

 

2. Document Management

Cloud storage offers lower costs, better security, better integration, and improved productivity when compared to legacy office networks. The integration and productivity come from excellent Content Management tools that have evolved. Again Google and Zoho are the favorites in this space.

 

3. Project Management

Project Management tools will be the subject of a future AppTrain comparison article. BaseCamp is the forefather of the web based project management revolution. But the space is now quite crowed , and some excellent tools like Teambox are emerging.

4. Website Publishing

A clear favorite did not emerge from our Cloud Based Website Builder comparison. The quick site builders fall short when compared to publishing tools like WordPress and Joomla. It seems a Cloud Based Website Publisher Comparison would be more appropriate. Linux for You has an excellent WordPress vs Drupal vs Joomla comparison.

5. Accounting

For invoicing The in-house favorite here at AppTrain has been Freshbooks.  Freshbooks is a classic start in your parents basement company that is now an a accounting leader in the Cloud.

6. Customer Relationships

I'm not a big acronym guy. But  Saleforce has put CRM on the map and has branched into one of the leading cloud computing companies. SugarCRM entered this field not long after, and more recently Zoho has joined the game with , you could have guess it,   ZohoCRM. Leadmaster and Microsoft Dynamics certainly deserve consideration just for not using an acronym in their name.

7. Mailing Lists

When a customer wants to do email marketing, We beg them not to, and try to hip them to social media. But if they must, We refer them to MailChimp. It's good to know Monkey's are still finding work since the space program has cut back.

8. Version Control

Version Control is really document management for programmers. When a client starts developing software they're morphing into a competitor of AppTrain. To make the fight fair, we make sure they know about Unfuddle.  Unfuddle is a collaboration suite for programmers and includes project management and issue tracking along with version control.  The version control options are Subversion and Git but it's the integration with the other tools that sets it apart.

9. Issue Tracking

Things that don't work are called issues. When the issue with software it's called a bug. Do you think Unfuddle developers tracked issues in Bugzilla? Or the creators of Fogbuzz logged bugs in BaseCamp? All four of these tools are excellent, so more than likely, they ate their own dogfood.

10. Site Monitoring

Once a web site or product is in production, we want to make sure it stays working. Uptrends can check any site, verify content and perform multiple step transactions from multiple sites around the globe. They then send alerts via email or SMS when a site isn't performing properly. MxToolbox is a great tool for making sure your dns records are in order, and for staying off spam lists.  They also provide email alerts.

By developing an effective cloud strategy, companies can obtain and keep a competitive edge over companies stuck spending money and time maintaining legacy in-house IT Infrastructures. AppTrain migrates existing infrastructures to cloud solutions, and provides training to help maintain productivity through a seamless transition to the cloud.