Ten Things to Find Out on First Day at New Job

Starting a new job can be stressful and very much a case of going into the unknown. These are the ten things that I believe you need to find out on your first day at a new job;

  1.       Where the toilets are?

        2.       Is there a vending machine or coffee club?

        3.       What do people tend to do for lunch?

        4.       What do you do if you cut your finger off?

        5.       Who is in charge of paying you?

        6.       Where can you park your car that doesn’t cost a fortune?

        7.       Where are the main meeting rooms?

        8.       Who is your boss’s boss?

        9.       Where do you save your files to?

      10.   How early can you leave in the evening and still look conscientious?

Next week the famous Aston Villa report back for pre-season training and as they prepare to return to the top six, where they belong, have signed five new players. All five are in their early 20’s and from various different European countries. They must be petrified as they prepare for their first day but at least there will be others there in the same situation, even if they don’t speak the same language.

So what do you do when you want to find anything out? If you are like me you ‘Google’ it (Ok other Search Engines are available, but I still always Google first). I suspect that on average I google over ten times a day. It really is my first port of call. Just an hour ago I googled ‘what to clean fabric car roofs with’. I know, I could have walked upstairs and got the handbook out that came with the car, but the first thing I did was google.

So why are we half way through my SharePoint blog and I haven’t yet mentioned SharePoint? Well, that is because if the company you are starting working at has SharePoint the answers to all the ten questions might be nearer than you think. So the first question to ask is, ‘do you use SharePoint?’ If so get the web address and using the Search box like Google try to find the answers to these questions.

Many companies now use SharePoint as an Intranet as using it as a Document\Records Management System. So you just might get lucky. If they do have SharePoint, but this type of information isn’t there then there will be lots of opportunities for you to shine by suggesting how it could be enhanced.

If you are a Human Resources, Personnel, or Recruitment Department (or whatever the latest trendy name is for looking after staff) then it is worth seeing how you can make best use of your organisations SharePoint system. Office Talk, the SharePoint Specialists, are always happy to come and offer you advice, or training, on how SharePoint can maximise the availability of information in your company. Just give us a call on 0121 3680055.

Now, to buy my 34^th consecutive Villa season ticket online. Villa Park is one place that I do know like the back of my hand.   

Benefits of Office 365 Enterprise

We seem to spend so much of our lives waiting.  Children excitedly waiting for Father Christmas, Villa fans waiting for the next FA Cup triumph and businesses waiting for a truly affordable portable SharePoint solution. Well, Villa players have more important priorities at the moment, the elves have only just started making this year’s Christmas toys, but Microsoft have only gone and cracked it. Office 365 Enterprise really is what we have all been waiting for.

Office 365 is the ‘cloud’ based solution from Microsoft which includes Email, Instant Messaging, Live Meetings and storage. But the bit that really excites us at Office Talk is SharePoint 2013. Not only using it for Document Management and internal Team sites, but also to run the company Web Site. Yes, I know there have been many false dawns (no, I am not talking about Villa FA Cup runs), but Microsoft really have now given us FULL SharePoint capability. This is SharePoint without the Server. It has to be tried to be fully believed.

Like many of you Office Talk despaired with the limitations of BPOS and tried to hide our disappointment with Microsoft Online. But now pushed by the competition of the all-powerful Google (with their Google Docs and Google Mail) Microsoft have produced an absolute gem. The Office Talk engineers are a doubting lot, but after spending three months testing and trying to break Office 265 Enterprise edition the only conclusion is a big thumbs up.

So what are the benefits of Office 365 Enterprise then? Here are the things about it that makes me smile;

1. It really does include a fully working SharePoint Farm. With My Sites and User Profiles.

2. It comes with a Web Site powered by SharePoint and easy to configure. Including setting SEO optimisation.

3. You buy it per user and pay monthly. So even the smallest company can use it.

4. It comes with storage, a Sky Drive, for each user. Now I really can store my files securely and not have to panic about backing them up.

5. It works on my smart phone and my iPad. I even get it working on my old Blackberry.

6. It lets me create files straight in SharePoint without the need to having Office installed locally. Brilliant on the iPad.

7. It doesn’t need extra SQL licenses or SharePoint Internet licences or any complicated licencing calculation

8. You can easily add your existing domains. A couple of tweaks of ‘Go Daddy’ and your existing Website address can now be used for your email on Office 365.

9. No need to buy client copies of latest Office applications these can be freely downloaded as part of the monthly subscription.

10. Best to have ten benefits so I shall re-echo that it is FULL SHAREPOINT 2013. Central Administration and all.

So, you can see how excited we are about Office 365 Enterprise, but please don’t take my word for it, but try it out yourself. After all I was excited when I heard they were bringing back ‘Catch Phrase’.

To try Office 365 Enterprise with no questions asked or credit cards required please visit the Office Talk website. http://www.office-talk.com/index.php?id=186

As for the Villa I remain confident of Premiership survival. I think we require 40 points though to remain in the top flight. So we might have to beat Wigan on last game of the season. 

STOP PRESS : Villa 6 Sunderland 1 - Maybe next season the FA Cup if we keep Benteke.