The second of which – What’s New – is going to help you keep tabs on additions to the Google Apps platform. This page’s primary focus is helping you plan ahead, be aware of and schedule any necessary training.

Use Google Apps? Check out these new sites! is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

Full link for more information: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/05/introducing-people-widget.html

Google implementing Micro CRM features directly into your Google Mail is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

It’s not.

The problem lies in the default setting of SimplifyThis that each staff member is capable of performing all services your company offers. To correct this simply edit your staff by clicking and choosing assign services. Un-check “can perform all services” and select the correct roles. Now if you want you can also give your clients the ability to book certain staff members specifically – this would also use the correct availability – this can be done from Settings -> Appointment Preferences -> Rules for Website Appointments -> Allow clients to pick staff.

That’s it, no more misunderstandings when it comes to your scheduling.

Also as a note from the SimplifyThis team – make sure that your Google Calendar timezone and SimplifyThis timezone match! – Thanks Sanjay

SimplifyThis ignoring Google Calendar? is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

A bit of background: Google makes the operating system Android for mobile phones but does not create applications native to mobile platforms. This means we’ll begin seeing applications made for iPhone, Blackberry, etc that have been created and written specifically for those platforms. In the past Google’s efforts were into building and maintaining web apps that, while available from mobile devices, had been designed to be used by any device. They had worked very hard to develop platform independent applications that are available via a standard web browser.

I do not think that this will change their focus on these web apps, that is their core business and I don’t see that changing. I do however think that the development of platform specific applications will benefit them in a number of ways. Primarily people who used other devices had interactions with software that was not really purpose built just for them. This will let a larger audience see the usability that Google is known for and potentially draw new customers to them. The raised level of competition among the applications is only going to be a win for the consumer. We’ll get a higher quality product, though our expectations will rise as well which I think in the short term may hurt smaller development shops trying to fill the void that Google had left.

This is a rambling message, but I hope the intent is received – I want to hear what you think of these changes and the impact they will have.

Google to start building mobile apps. What do you think? is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

First lets get the icon file we will use.
Open your terminal and enter:
wget http://www.conceptssquared.com/storage/post-images/10146.png -O ~/qboicon.png
Or [Right Click] Quickbooks Icon [Save As] “~/qboicon.png”

This will save a copy of the Quickbooks Icon to your home folder (change ~/ to whatever path you prefer).

Now lets make the shortcut, for Debian/Ubuntu/Gnome users:
[Right click] on your desktop and choose [Create Launcher]
Fill in the following fields:
Type: Application
Name: Quickbooks Online
Command: /opt/google/chrome/google-chrome %U --user-agent="Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/4.0; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)" --app="http://qbo.intuit.com"
Comment: Masks Chrome as Windows Firefox for QBO, opens qbo.intuit.com as a web application.

Now [Left Click] on the icon in the upper left and enter:
~/qboicon.png
Choose [Open]
Choose [Ok] on the Create Launcher Dialog

You will now find an icon on your desktop. Try it out!

If you are not using Debian/Ubuntu/Gnome you should be able to do the same by creating a symbolic link [ln].
Please post your alternative solutions!

Thanks to Concept Squared for hosting up an easy to use QBO Icon for everyone to use.

How to use Quickbooks Online in Linux? is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

In that respect lets mention a few tools you can use to keep your accounts secure.
Start here: Gmail Security Checklist
Subscribe here: Google Online Security Blog

This will help keep you up to date on all the new techniques and scams running so you can properly protect yourself!

Happy Paranoia

Keep your account secure! [Checklist!] is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

When my customers begin working with me to improve the work-flow and day to day business my first step is to gather information to help define the true issue. Many of you have experienced one of my data logging forms in the way of a sheet that records your activities throughout the day. Today I was pleasantly surprised when I found an email me from the team at Tungle.Me. Inside this mysteriously titled “Tungle.me Manifesto | Facebook | Best Practices” email they had a link to something great:

http://calendarofthefuture.com/

At this site they describe empowering the calendar to work as more than just a static reference as a reminder tool and turn it into a powerhouse of information that will work to proactively optimize your daily routine. It’s analytics for your day! I am really excited to see where this is going as I know that it is already an instrumental part of my process but this looks to make it more seamless and much richer in capability.

The ability to aggregate data from your calendar, FourSquare, Facebook, Yelp etc. and use this to help you tune your life is invaluable. Most people are shocked when I show them what they spend their average week DOING. Wait till I can show you WHAT you are about to do and WHY. Working then to set you up to do everything you want to do and fit the stuff you have to do in as efficient a manner as possible!

It’s catching on! – Daily aggregation for continued improvement. is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

In April, we launched a new version of Google documents. One feature that makes collaboration easier is improved commenting.

Connecting text to note

Comments let you make suggestions about the text in your document without modifying the document itself. When you click on a comment, the text it’s referring to is highlighted. And vice-versa — when you select highlighted text in your document, we identify the associated comment.

A detailed view of the comment box

Finally, we think the comment feature will give you flexibility to work with your notes in an intuitive and user-friendly way.

You can delete a comment by pressing the trash can icon above a comment. Or, you can respond to a comment by pressing the reply arrow, and it will show up just below the comment you’re responding to. You can hide a comment by marking the “X” button at the top of the comment.

Collaboration at the next level

The new version of Google documents is a built around collaboration, allowing you to work in real-time and to see what others are typing character by character. The new comment features makes it much easier to keep track of your ideas and notes while you work closely with others.

To try out improved commenting and other features, you’ll need to take the new preview version of Google documents for a test drive. You can opt-in by visiting the Editing tab in the Google Docs settings.

Posted by: Edgard Lindner, Software Engineer on the Google Apps Blog

Permalink

Use comments in Google Docs when working together is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

If you need a Google Wave Invite reply to this post and I’ll see what I can do to help you out.

Try Google Wave, Now part of Google Apps is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works

I’ve talked to a lot of small businesses that don’t have the budget or the resources to invest in and maintain technology. That’s why I love telling them about Google Apps — a suite of web-based office tools — and how it can help move their businesses forward.

I always find that it’s easier for small businesses to understand the benefits of Google Apps when one of our customers tells the story for us. So I’ve asked Stephen Culp, Founder and Chairman of Chattanooga, TN-based Smart Furniture and CEO of Delegator, to share his experiences with Google Apps, and how he took a company that started out in a Stanford professor’s garage and made it a success. (Sound familiar?) We’ll continue the conversation with Stephen and other Google Apps customers at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce America’s Small Business Summit next week in Washington, D.C.

As the founder of three companies, an attorney, Naval Reserve Officer and former Peace Corps volunteer, I’m a believer in an entrepreneurial approach to virtually everything. Smart Furniture, for example, started back in 1998 in a Stanford professor’s garage, with a new business model called “Design on Demand®” that allows furniture and interiors for homes and offices to be customized for you, and more importantly, by you, all on the web.

Smart Furniture began as a small and growing company with phenomenal people, but limited budget (and time) for technology, especially the wrong kind. We tried for years to scale efficiently without pouring money into the “standard” infrastructure to run our business. We considered the idea of Microsoft® Exchange, and while the idea was great, in practice it got a lot more complicated — and expensive.

Then, in 2008, we discovered Google Apps. We liked the general virtues of SaaS applications that were inherent in Google Apps, and the fact that the applications improved over time without any effort from our team. Plus, the collaborative benefits were game-changing. Google Apps took that idea of efficient, company-wide collaboration and — unlike the alternatives — made it real.

In other words, for us, Google Apps does just what technology should. It frees up resources to focus on our actual business. It offers tools we didn’t have — or hadn’t integrated — before, including third-party apps from the Google Apps Marketplace. It replaces unnecessary layers of tech silliness with a simple, intuitive, integrated platform that actually serves us — our team and our goals.

Google Calendar alone increases our efficiency exponentially. Everyone can look at the same calendars, create new ones for events, projects or work groups, and share them, without having to master a byzantine instruction manual. Then there are the collaboration benefits. Before Google Apps, we’d constantly lose information as people changed roles or moved on to new projects. With Google Sites, we’ve eliminated the need for shared servers and their little air-conditioned server rooms, and replaced our entire intranet with one comfortably situated in the cloud. We use Google Sites to store company files and team members’ bios, and support our project groups. Meanwhile, Google Docs allows everyone to contribute to projects and idea creation — a key part of our company culture. We create documents to solicit feedback, track ideas, keep common agendas, take notes, prepare for meetings, manage inventory and even organize our company’s softball league. It’s part of almost everything we do.

Yes, our IT guys freaked out at first. Some thought that eliminating the maintenance of our previous system, a.k.a. Frankenstein, would make them no longer necessary. What they didn’t realize was how much better their jobs would get. Now they have the time to work on interesting projects — building, creating and innovating, rather than constantly rebuilding, patching and defragmenting. Our team is amazing, and we’re glad to have them back out of that air-conditioned server room.

At Smart Furniture, Google Apps helps build and support our culture, an important part of the secret sauce that has helped us succeed. Our culture keeps all of us working together, enjoying our days, not peering out the window wondering when we can clock out. As any company grows, it’s hard to maintain the sense of close collaboration that a small business has. Google Apps keeps us chatting (we all use chat in Gmail), collaborating, learning and growing together, as if we were still in the one-room office where we began — which was, incidentally, about the same size as the server room we were planning to build for Exchange.

In our experience, as a small business, the wrong technology can distract your team and drain resources, while the right technology can seamlessly support your goals. Both Smart Furniture and Delegator are on pace for greater than 100 percent growth in 2010. Customer satisfaction rates are at record levels, and we love where we work. For us, Google Apps is the right technology.

Stephen in the flagship Smart Furniture Studio

Hello Google Apps, hello real collaboration is a post from: Using Google Apps and Cloud Technology to Increase Business Effectiveness | Indianapolis Computer System Works