Hopefully you don’t suffer from all of the above, however if you do, we’d like to introduce you to Microsoft’s Power Platform, or as we like to call them, the Power Platform Superheroes.  I know, not as catchy as Power Rangers, but that name was already taken.  But don’t let that take anything away from the fact they are a powerful bunch.

The four of them are known as:

• Power Apps
• Power Automate
• Power BI
• Power Virtual Agents

To give you a taste of their collective power, here are a tester of a few projects that we’re working on at the moment…

Robotic Process Automation

Tired of repetitive tasks?

Power Automate includes a product known as ‘Desktop Flows’.  Think of it being like an Excel of Word macro, but on steroids.  Desktop Flows allows you to record actions on your device, view the resulting activities captured, edit them, and then set them to run manually or automatically using Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

The move to paperless

Fed up of paper shuffling?

By combining Power Automate and Power Apps you can very rapidly move to the much vaunted ‘paperless office’.  You can trigger approval workflows using Teams or your mobile devices; receiving confirmation of each stage of the approval as it progresses.  If you are presented with a piece of ‘traditional’ paper – simply scan it, or capture it with Office Lens, and let Microsoft’s AI processes extract the relevant information from the captured document and begin an automated process.

Permission management

Sick of waiting for the IT team to grant folder permissions?

In dynamic organisations, where people frequently join, or move between work groups; the traditional step of requesting permissions to access shared folders can be somewhat slow.  We now provide clients with the ability to simply update a SharePoint list (usually via Teams or Power Apps) to make an organisational change; and Power Automate completes all of the back-end creation, moving and setting of permissions within seconds of the change.

CCTV integration

Annoyed at getting to work to find there are no parking space?

Wouldn’t it be nice of you could receive an email telling you that all the parking spaces where full before you arrive at work; allowing you to find somewhere else to park and save time?  By feeding images from your organisation’s CCTV straight into Power Automate, we can use AI Builder to identify when all the spaces are taken and send an email or SMS to warn you.  This is just one of the many AI functions that Microsoft has provided within Power Automate.

Automated query management

Bored of being asked the same question over and over again?

Microsoft’s Power Virtual Agents can provide an intelligent Bot that can field a barrage of increasingly complex queries.  By integrating the Bot with Power Automate, we can trigger a range of automated process to reduce the overhead of handling colleague and client queries and requests.

If the idea of using Microsoft’s Power Platform Superheroes to make your like easier sounds appealing; why not get in touch and speak to one of Webporch ’s Solution Superheroes by filling out the form below to find out how we can help.

You don’t tend to hear those sort of conversations these days, but I just did.  I was in a meeting with our CEO, Steve Pickering, and he took a call from one of our customers; one who we have taken care of for over 20 years.

The customer has computers, of course; however it turns out that they still like the quality touch of a type-written Delivery Note it seems.  This had presented their MD with some form of technical challenge in relation to their Sage accounting system.  Undaunted, Steve proceeded to offer him sound advice that helped him to deal with the problem; at no time questioning his choice of technologies.

What Steve was, albeit unconsciously, demonstrating was what is known as ‘the Founder’s Principle’.  WebPorch Solution was born as a service-oriented company.  From its inception, to today’s cloud-centric (and typewriter centric of course) operation, we have always strived to provide our clients with the correct advice to suit their needs.

If you’re in sales, you might be shouting “Sell them Microsoft 365 you idiot!”, or worse.  I would like to point out however, that our core principles don’t allow this for one simple reason:  It’s not the right technology for his organisation’s size and requirements … typewriters are the right thing for them in this particular instance.

Whilst we’ve moved on to providing Microsoft Modern Workplaces and Azure platform solutions to the near totality of our client base; we never leave a client behind because they don’t fit the view of a ‘modern organisation’. If you’re looking for a strategic IT partner that will always put your interests over commercial gain, then why not get in touch…

Paul
Sales & Marketing Director

Hybrid cloud is a data and computer system storage solution that combines an on premise data centre or private cloud with a public cloud network such as Microsoft Azure, which allows the sharing of data and applications across networks. Organisations use hybrid cloud solutions to provide their business with a network that is specifically tailored to their needs.

The benefits of a hybrid cloud solution

Over the years I have seen many versions of hybrid cloud, but no matter which definition of hybrid cloud I’ve seen, the benefits have consistently been the same. The general principal is that when a business or organisation’s computing and processing demand increases beyond the on-premises capabilities, businesses can use the cloud to instantly scale capacity up or down to handle excess capacity. It also allows them to avoid the time and cost of purchasing, installing, and maintaining new servers that they may not always need.

Why do businesses choose a hybrid cloud solutions?

There are many additional reasons over and above capacity requirements that a business might choose a hybrid cloud approach, typically these are meeting regulatory and data sovereignty requirements, maximising on-premises technology investments, addressing low latency and edge workloads, and strengthening resilience and business continuity.

At Webporch , we support a number of industries that work with highly sensitive data, such as banking, finance, charities and healthcare. For these businesses the hybrid cloud was their best option. It allows the flexibility for certain types of data to be stored on-premises while allowing other maybe less sensitive data to be stored on the cloud. In this kind of hybrid cloud architecture, organisations gain the flexibility of the public cloud for less regulated computing tasks, while still meeting their industry requirements.

What has been interesting over the last few years is that the regulations stipulate that data is to be held using on-site storage, but many businesses find hybrid cloud security to be superior to that of their on-premises datacentre because of the always-up-to-date features such as automated data redundancy, high availability, disaster recovery, and cybersecurity. Meaning business data is almost always safer with a hybrid solution. I suspect that this is one.

If you’d like support finding the right cloud solution for your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Or visit out cloud services page where you can find out more.

Tom
CTO

When we all went home back in March 2020, we quite literally grabbed any device we could to get connected to the office. Sadly, this also meant that some security protocols were overlooked, and our support desk went into overdrive making sure that clients had secure, safe access to the files and folders they needed to work effectively.

As we return to work, there are lots of things to consider with your IT in this new normal world.

What does the new normal look like for you?

If, like us, your team will now be permanently flexible, this means that the new normal still involves having a significant number of your team members working at least on a part time basis, at home. This is the new normal and whilst I agree that collaboration works best in the office, there are definitely benefits to focussed work taking place at home, but do you have all the solutions in place to manage a hybrid workforce? The right connectivity, suitable devices that allow staff to move from place to place, productivity and engagement solutions that enable your staff to collaborate easily no matter where they are, such as Microsoft 365? There are so many ways in which you can aid your workforce to be productive whilst adopting the new normal.

Preparing for Teams meetings when you are not the only person in the room

Whilst we have been at home, we have had the luxury of being able to close doors to get the right environment. Back in the office though, you will find that those super comfortable fruit-based earphones (other earphones are available) are so good that they will easily pickup everyone else’s voice as well as your own. Investing in something that is very good at removing the background noise will give your colleagues on the call a much easier time as they will only be able to hear you, as opposed to also hearing John and Sally in the background on every meeting.

Connectivity

It is fair to say that the UK’s biggest unplanned broadband test was successful. We could all do with more speed though so checking when your contract expires or even a call to your provider, mid contract to see if you can get an increase in speed, could make all the difference with your IT as we go back to normal.

Planning for the future

Making sure we have a IT strategy in place so that you are prepared for whatever this pandemic throws at us. Preparing for hybrid working environments, upscaling workforces, managing more data and documents, these are all thing you should be prepared for. Your IT strategy will play a huge part as we go back to normal, and it is at the very heart of what we do.

Security

Do your teams have access to the information they need – equally as important, what do they not need access to. Aligned with your strategy, would be a well-built security plan. Making sure you future proof the security of your business is something to revisit as we go back to normal. Firewalls, switches and networks have evolved massively in recent years and could be the boost your network needs when hundreds of users are all trying to access the same things.

There is a specific, definite shift in the conversations we are having with our clients. As a starter for ten, collaboration is the hottest topic as we discuss IT as we go back to normal. This is something we can help you with.

Steve
CEO & Founder

Here at WebPorch Solution we are constantly striving to find new, innovative ways in which we can work, not only for ourselves but for our customers too. What we’ve found is that Microsoft Teams improves productivity in so many ways. Not only that, but it just makes life at work easier.  This week in particular, saw a few meetings where this was highlighted, starting with our quarterly update.

Holding meetings with staff inside and outside the office

Each quarter we share, with the whole team, warts and all, how we are doing. During the pandemic, these meetings have been invaluable, enabling us to share fundamental information on the decisions we, as a company are making, to navigate our way through unprecedented times. Throughout this period we conducted our meetings with everyone at home, all through teams. I shared my PowerPoint and ran through the slides. A document which Paul (Sales & Marketing Director) and I had worked on collaboratively, once again in Teams.

We think it is hugely important for the whole team to see the pluses and minuses of the inner workings of the business, thankfully, despite an uncertain period for all businesses, we’re now thriving better than ever. And, with things starting to get back to normal, we now had a chunk of the team in the office, which meant this meeting saw the use of Microsoft Teams once again which allowed us to enable our remote workers to have as close an experience as possible, to the ones who were able to social distance in the room.

With the use of touchscreens, multiple microphones, multiple presenters, and some clever trickery in PowerPoint, we delivered a fantastic experience for our team. Oh, and the whole thing is recorded in Teams for those that were unable to make it due to other commitments. And, although it sounds complicated, it was really simple.

Everything ran smoothly, with homeworkers able to view the slides and hear us narrating them, whilst the rest of the team sat and viewed this in person on the big screen. Microsoft Teams improves productivity and collaboration in this way and it’s proved to be great for us and many of our clients.

Working collaboratively on documents in Microsoft TEAMS

It’s not only in meetings that we see the benefit of Teams. In the marketing update meeting, we had 3 people in 3 different locations, all collaborating on the same document at once. Gone are the days of sending a document over email for someone to update and send back. Now, you’re given access and can make your alterations in real time, and, you can do it together, you could have 100 people working on a document at once if you really wanted.  It always puts a smile on my face when you see a spreadsheet being updated by people collectively even though they are hundreds of miles away from each other.

The same went for our Finance meeting and many others, It’s hard now to think back on how we did these meetings without working in TEAMS. Wow, how we relied on email and patience, waiting for someone else to finish what they were doing so that we could do our job.

Here are just a few examples from us at WebPorch Solution on how Microsoft Teams improves productivity and collaboration for our business, just like it can with yours.

Welcome to Microsoft TEAMS and the Modern Workplace. Making working easier.

Steve
CEO & Founder

Cyber security accreditation is important, but it makes you wonder what it actually means, what do you have to do to achieve it and is it regulated?

What’s your first thought when you see the ‘Cyber Essentials’ logo on somebody’s web site?  “Wow!” … maybe,  “That’s reassuring.” … possibly, “ Yeah – whatever, they just clicked ‘yes’ to all the questions and hit ‘Submit’” … almost certainly.

The Cyber Essentials certification framework is designed to inspire confidence in the UK supply chain by providing organisations with a checklist to ensure that they are complying with cyber security best practice.  A very noble cause, except that the basic version of Cyber Essentials (i.e. without the ‘Plus’ at the end) is a self-certification process.  This means that it relies solely on trust.  Trust that the organisation you are dealing with will take the appropriate security measures to protect your sensitive data when it is in their hands.

As a nation, we Brits are a trusting lot.  We place great store in the integrity of our fellow countrymen.  Unfortunately, we can also be a bit, well … naïve.  That’s why you need to be appraising your partners based upon the ‘Cyber Essentials Plus’ accreditation.  Why?  Because the ‘Plus’ at the end means that an external assessment body has verified your cyber security posture.

What is the cyber security accreditation process?

Sounds simple?  Don’t be fooled.  The external verification process is very rigorous.  It involves penetration testing, simulated virus ingress, and malicious script testing  on your end-user devices (to name just a few tests).  The end result, however, is well worth the effort, as you can a stick a logo on your website that gives genuine assurance on your organisations cyber security posture.

Not sure where to start?  Simple, as a Cyber Essentials Plus accredited, next-generation security provider; we can step you through the process of getting verifiably secure.  After all, your fellow Brits have got enough on their plates to worry about at the moment, without having to worry about your security.

Why is cyber security important for my business?

Find out in our blog post here.

We recently completed the acquisition of another company. I will talk more about this in future posts however right from the beginning, Microsoft Modern Workplace played its part, and to be honest, I am not sure how we would have done things without it.

Firstly, storage of data, emails and the whole collaboration required to process high volumes of information.

Acquiring the company all started with a phone call. You could argue that I was in the right time and the right place, but it was more about connections and networking. What followed was a whole heap load of data to digest and this is where Microsoft Teams kicked in. Paul and I started with creating a Team with various channels. This meant that we were able to collaborate on the same documents at the same time, which is a fundamental long overdue feature we have all been waiting for in Word and Excel. Next, we processed all the initial calculations. We would not have arrived at some of the decisions we did early on about the acquisition if we had not had access to this data in this way.

Moving through the process, we introduced external resources and held calls with people inside and outside of the organisation. You can do this easily with Microsoft Teams, after all it is built on SharePoint, which has been around for a long time. COVID made this process easy as everyone is now used to video calling. We often shared screens and made very quick decisions on what would have otherwise waited for email responses. And to think that we used to think that email was quick.

Once the deal had been done, we started on embedding our systems and processes into the everyday life at the newly acquired company. This involved everything from domain names, web sites, and emails; through to documents and accounts. All of which was made easier using Office 365. Once the right details had been added to the correct Microsoft Tenant, we were able to start collaborating straight away. Even though we were bringing two domain names together, they both appeared in one place. We were able to immediately start sharing our Teams structure with our new colleagues. Culturally, this meant that although we were bringing two companies together, we were able to act as one team. Massively important for this process to work.

Now, we have started to help the growing team provide the same outstanding net promoter score our current clients enjoy here at WebPorch Solution (it’s 96 and we are very proud of it), to our newly acquired clients. All of which, will include work, that our colleagues will predominantly complete in Microsoft’s Modern Workplace.

So in short, that’s how Microsoft Modern Workplace helped us. From file sharing and collaborative working to video calls and easy access to company documents and data, it made our lives easier and the acquisition process smoother. Maybe a tiny bit less stressful too.

As for growth through acquisition, I recommend it. Just make sure you have a strategy that involves a great IT company like us and Microsoft Modern Workplace to make the whole process easier.

Steve

It’s obviously extremely important to have security in place to prevent an attack happening, a service which we provide to many of our clients, you can find out about it here. But, it’s important to have a recovery plan in place too. How do you get back up and running if the worst happens? You need a proven continuity plan. Did you notice I used the word ‘proven’?  That’s the import bit.

We have technology solutions that ‘simulate’ an attack to test your Business Continuity with cyber security in anger, before it becomes a real, business-threatening event. And, we don’t just do it once a year, instead, we test our clients’ entire server infrastructure has successfully replicated to the Cloud once an hour.  We also perform a full, regular, simulated recovery in the Cloud to prove that they can continue to function after contact with the enemy.

Importantly, our Business Continuity solutions address both of the below scenarios:

Loss of Service: We can recover clients’ server infrastructures within 1 hour, to a point of time not more than one hour prior to the disaster

Loss of Access: As well as on-premises recovery, we can recover their infrastructures in the Cloud, allowing access to their IT services from any location

So should you experience the worst, you’re rest assured that you can retrieve all of your files and data from the latest back up, and you can have your business back up and running in no time. Saving you time and money.

In today’s fast-changing IT world, the nature and number of ‘enemies’ is increasingly difficult to keep track of. By focusing on the two areas of Loss of Service and Loss of Access, we can help you to be ready for the day when first-contact comes.

Paul
Sales & Marketing Director