Wild Apricot can help your association or nonprofit

Over the past year and a half I have completed about a dozen Wild Apricot system implementations.   The leading factors in this have been, 

1) Cost, with a free version that converts to easy to estimate levels of service payable on a monthly basis.  The cost is at the lower end of the spectrum of this model.

2) Ease of use, As a software as a service model, (SaaS) Wild Apricot does not require technical training or support to keep the system running.   Software updates and patches are applied automatically, the system is backed up and uptime managed by the provider.

3) Integration, Wild Apricot includes membership management, website front end, donation management, mass email function, event management,  and more.  All of these features in one place makes a very capable and efficient system.

4) Excellent training and support resources, Wild Apricot provides on the page help resources, video training, webinar training, and a support call in line.  This is by far the most attractive feature of Wild Apricot.  

5) Multi administrator functionality, With the ability to delegate administration functions, Wild Apricot is a great fit for non-profit / volunteer environments.   You can delegate event management, website updates, member management, all without allowing full system access. 

Examples of types of organizations that use Wild Apricot, 

Professional Associations

Business/Trade Associations

Online Business Directory

Chamber of Commerce

Nonprofit Organizations

Charity Organizations

Sport Clubs

Social Clubs

Homeowner Associations

Community Associations

Some examples of Wild Apricot Sites, 

Rockies Venture Club, http://www.rockiesventureclub.org/

Berkeley Regis United Neighbors, http://www.brundenver.info

Red Sunsent Merchant Association, http://www.rsmasm.com/

If you ready to find out more about Wild Apricot, please feel free to contact me. 

B.Y.O.D. What does it mean? Can it help me?

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a growing trend in business today.   The idea behind BYOD is you bring your own computer, phone, or other electronic device and use it at your job or business.  For more detail, here is a further explanation from Wikipedia, 

"Bring your own device (BYOD) (also called bring your own technology (BYOT), bring your own phone (BYOP), and bring your own PC (BYOPC)) means the policy of permitting employees to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their workplace, and use those devices to access privileged company information and applications. The term is also used to describe the same practice applied to students using personally owned devices in education settings.

BYOD is making significant inroads in the business world, with about 75% of employees in high growth markets such as Brazil and Russia and 44% in developed markets already using their own technology at work. In most cases, businesses simply can't block the trend. Some believe that BYOD may help employees be more productive. Others say it increases employee morale and convenience by using their own devices and makes the company look like a flexible and attractive employer"

Wikipedia

BYOD growing as a trend in small to medium size businesses.  It is an attractive option that allows business to spend less on hardware, improve employee morale, and focus on other capital intensive functions.

At the same time BYOD presents a security risk, specifically accessing confidential and proprietary information on a personal device, the additional cost of supporting several different types of devices, and the challenge of software use.

If you want to find out if BYOD might be a good fit for you and your business, feel free to contact me. 

Learn something today, and most of the time it's free!

Recently I was looking for some training / learning resources for client for a new software suite.   I went to my most helpful sites, youtube.com and lynda.com, but no luck.   

What I ended up finding was Red Hoop.   Red Hoop is a video learning aggregation site.   Here it is in their own words, 

"While the booming content is great for all eager learners like yourself, it has caused a problem – too many websites to visit, too many courses teaching similar topic … That’s where RedHoop comes in. We want to become the one stop shop for all online courses, so your limited time can be spend on learning, instead of searching and comparing."

Red Hoop

I urge you to check out their site,  check out this listing of Photoshop courses.  There are ton of free courses as well as paid and subscription.   Let me know what you think in the comments. 

Check out DriveSavers hard drive simulator

Recently I partnered with DriveSavers data recovery services and one fo the fun tools that they provide is a hard drive simulator that gives a example of the problems and issues that can effect you hard drive.   Check out the simulator below, and know if you end up with one of these symptoms I can help.

Microsoft admits to a Windows user interface design mistake?

The first thing I hear when a client discusses Windows 8 is, "Where is the Start button?"  Complaints  about Windows 8 and it user interface redesign have been common place since its release, but now it seems like something is going to be done about it.  Windows 8.1 is going to be released later this year with some major changes to Windows 8, including adding a Start Button, common user tools, and a reversion to the Windows 7 look feel.  So is Windows 8 a big mistake?   I think that the issue is larger than that.  Here is a excerpt from a Forbes article that is  a good summary of the issues,  

"So, is Windows 8.1 a “mea culpa” from Microsoft? Perhaps. Microsoft has taken issue with the concept that Windows 8.1 is any sort of apology for Windows 8, or that the latest operating system  is the “New Coke” of this generation.

Whether or not it’s any sort of acknowledgement of failure for Windows 8, Windows 8.1 is essentially Windows 8 Service Pack 1. It’s the big update that fixes the bugs, addresses the issues, and adds new features users want. The fact that Microsoft is not calling it Service Pack 1, and the way Microsoft is positioning and deploying Windows 8.1 is significant, though.

Microsoft typically takes years to develop and release a new operating system. There were more than five years between the launch of Windows XP and Windows Vista, and nearly three years between Windows Vista and Windows 7. People in general have an aversion to change, but Microsoft has fostered a culture where Windows users become so entrenched in the status quo that even minor tweaks to the operating system are a major shock. More than 10 years after its launch, and more than six years after the launch of its successor, Windows XP is still the number two operating system with more than a third of the desktop operating system market."

Original Article

Some of the feature improvements in Windows 8.1 sound promising, but the one that I am holding out for is the Start button.   Weather Windows 8 is a failure or not time will tell.