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Choice of the day

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+3 3 votes

Chop Chop

by IanW on 18.11.2008 10:49   5 comments , 62 views
Categories: Value from IT
Tags: cost-cutting management
Some very basic IT management cost cutting tips were listed by Computer Weekly's reporting of a Gartner symposium on how IT should be responding to the credit crunch.  But I was quite surprised - indeed shocked - though perhaps I shouldn't have been - that these weren't all already being addressed continually by IT Management!

I mean - some of the short-term steps listed were to rationalise apps and to "audit the invoices you pay you may be payi...

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+1 1 vote

Get safe online

by Sandra Vogel on 18.11.2008 15:20   0 comments , 15 views
Categories: Secure IT
Tags: identity theft, get safe online
Following on from IanW's excellent post earlier today about protecting your personal data, or rather NOT doing so, I thought I'd take the opportunity to point out that this week is Get Safe Online Week.

What does that mean? Well essentially it means that this week has been designated an awareness raising week with regard to internet safety issues. OK, it isn't Stop Shouting Your Personal Business On Your Phone So People Can Google You Week, but I...

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+3 3 votes

Mobile Phones, Personal Data and Google

by IanW on 18.11.2008 12:10   1 comment , 40 views
Categories: Secure IT
Tags: security people
I just couldn't concentrate on the train yesterday traveling to London for an IT faculty committee meeting because of all the mobile phones constantly going off - where do they get those tunes from - so I thought I would carry out a quick data privacy test.  Within 2 minutes I had googled two callers, established their identities (turned out that one was the business development partner in a large accountancy practice and the other was a NXD for...
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+1 1 vote

Relearning the Meaning of Value

by Dan Rasmus on 17.11.2008 19:27   5 comments , 61 views
Categories: Future IT, Value from IT
Tags: economy, it value
Does the current economic crisis inform us at all about how we understand value and the relationship of value to intangibles? What should we be thinking about when it comes to the valuation of IT investments in the future?
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+1 1 vote

A website for Enterprise Week

by Emily Coltman on 17.11.2008 16:09   0 comments , 12 views
Categories: Office IT
Tags: website, homeworking

Enterprise Week has just started and I thought I'd give a mention to a website I've just started delving into.

It's called Enterprise Nation and it focuses on small businesses run from home.  There's plenty going on, from blog postings to webchats to forums, and I think it's certainly worth a look for anyone who either works from home themselves or has clients who work from home.

M

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+1 1 vote

Would you like to pay for that by SMS?

by Sandra Vogel on 17.11.2008 12:00   1 comment , 37 views
Categories: Future IT
Tags: mobile phones, cashless payment systems, sms
The idea of cashless payment systems is hardly new. Think credit cards, and before those cheques. Think of internet based money systems like PayPal and even your own online bank.

Well, here comes another idea called Beem.

The premise is that you have a wallet on your mobile pone and this contains money. You spend by sending SMS messages. You even create a Beem account by SMS and link it to a direct debit account.

I am fully tuned in to the idea of ...

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0 0 votes

Real-IT TV - fly on the wall IT documentary returns

by Simon Hurst on 16.11.2008 19:28   0 comments , 20 views
Categories: Office IT
Tags: i don't believe it, tv, the it crowd
It's good to see the forthcoming return of Channel 4's 'The IT Crowd' for its third series on Friday 21st November. A brave decision to base a real-life documentary on what, at first glance, might not seem an obvious subject - the IT department of a major company....
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+2 2 votes

Excel pivot table videos

by Emily Coltman on 14.11.2008 16:49   4 comments , 64 views
Categories: Value from IT
Tags: training, excel, videos

Excel pivot tables are a fantastic tool but I'm always surprised how many accountants aren't comfortable with them.  Harnessing the power of pivot tables can really speed up the process of putting together accounting information.

If you're not sure of pivot tables, you might be interested in a new project I'm collaborating on with Glen Feechan of Not Just Numbers and Feechan Consulting.

We're working together to build Excel training using vide...

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+3 3 votes

Excel Quick Tip - automatic chart title and quick word wrap

by Simon Hurst on 13.11.2008 17:13   2 comments , 74 views
Categories: Office IT
Tags: excel, quick tip, chart, title

Another reasonably simple main tip - how to include a reference to a cell in a chart title, with the insertion of a 'line feed' in a text cell as an extra:

 

In cell A2 we have entered a formula to create a text title using the date entered into cell B1. This technique was covered in more detail in an earlier IT Counts post:

="Retail sales for " & TEXT(B1,"mmmm")

We have set the chart up using the chart wizard and entered a 'dummy' ...

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+1 1 vote

More on Twitter and microsharing

by David Terrar on 12.11.2008 17:32   0 comments , 133 views
Categories: Value from IT
Tags: collaboration, twitter, enterprise, micro-blogging, microsharing, laura fitton, pistachio, yammer, commoncraft

Two weeks ago I posted about a very "web 1.0" style PDF twitter guide. Shortly afterwards, several twitter related resources turned up in my various feeds that might be worthwhile for you to review as well.

My friend and colleague Des Walsh posted about a few things. The Commoncraft team of Sachi and Lee LeFever make great little videos on all manner things in plain English - some are free, and some are licensed. Here is their explanation of T...

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+2 2 votes

Technology time-warps - what's yours?

by Richard Young on 12.11.2008 16:02   8 comments , 101 views
Categories: Office IT
Tags: iphone, calendar, gps, redundancy, tricks, maps, meetings
I've just caught myself in what Terry Wogan might term "a senior moment" with technology. It got me thinking: are there habits that maybe we all have that have been rendered superfluous by the onward march of technology? I'm sure there are plenty of good habits that accountants continue to have even though technology has (in theory) rendered them surplus to requirements. One old boss I had, for example, used to insist I use a desk calculator to ...
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