Microsoft’s Offer For A Corporate Chat App

Microsoft is offering a free version of its Teams corporate chat app, available for groups ranging from two to three hundred users. This version is designed for startups and small businesses.

The new version provides 10GB’s of data storage, with extra 2GB’s for each individual user. Microsoft also provides free online versions of Office that allows users to edit flies, documents, slides and spread sheets. Microsoft is trying to lure users who do not want to pay initially, especially small startup businesses, and convert them into paid users’ overtime.

It seems like Microsoft Crop. is giving more attentions to small businesses. “We’re kind of flipping the model on its head,” said Lori Wright, general manager for Microsoft’s Office 365 collaboration apps. “The competition looks at this as a way to get into enterprises and larger business, but that’s a place we’ve been successful for a long time. To us, this is really about expanding the opportunity down to small and medium-sized businesses who haven’t necessarily been Office 365 customers.”

 

Teams Allows you to communicate with large groups of people instantly. Imagine being able to talk with different teams around the office simultaneously; Discuss plans from your own computer instead of having to walk to the meeting room. Microsoft Teams does that, and more. Microsoft Teams is the hub for teamwork in Office 365 that integrates all the people, content, and tools your team needs to be more engaged and effective. With it you can video chat, make audio calls and preform many more communication methods. The best part, you can use teams alongside the rest of the Office 365 suite.

Earlier this year Microsoft provided the same free version of Teams to educational users. Report shows that by the end of March 2018, more than 200 thousand organizations are using Teams, with 8 million active daily users. Users of free version of Teams have the option to upgrade to paid Office 365 plans, which has more storage space and wider access to Cloud based Microsoft Office software.

On top of teams, Microsoft will also provide a new set of analytics tools such as corporation calendar and email to provide an in depth personalized insights of staff as it is a perfect tool to track for work. All those tools would bring significant benefits to small businesses.

 

Reference: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/microsoft-offers-businsses-a-free-version-of-teams-its-slack-rival/2018/07/12/f4a2db72-85ff-11e8-9e06-4db52ac42e05_story.html?utm_term=.812dc6e39cb6

 

Blockchain’s Potential in the Federal Government

 

Blockchain technology is typically associated with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and the scores of others that became popular late last year. However, many of the world’s biggest companies such as Walmart, British Airways, and FedEx have also adopted blockchain technology to track, manage, and secure their data.

Now, governments around the world are also experimenting with blockchain. Canada, the UK, China, India—according to Deloitte, more than a dozen countries have begun blockchain tests in curiosity of its benefit to procurement and internal use. Of course, the United States federal government has also taken such an interest in blockchain.

In March of this year, Congress said “government agencies at all levels should consider and examine new uses for this technology.” Considering the benefits of blockchain, the federal government could find substantial cost savings by replacing old systems with blockchain ones; for example, a case can be made in regards to the Department of Defense’s systems.

The Department of Defense currently uses a five-decade-old Windows server to track the status of critical Army equipment, and with more data to track than ever before, the system will only continue to become more outdated. In fact, the Pentagon recently announced it had failed to document $100 million in computer system funds and $8 million in construction projects. Similarly, the Department of the Treasury uses a five-decade-old programming language to track taxpayer data. Numerous other government systems appear to be outdated as well.

However, a transition to blockchain technology could transform federal record management. A simple explanation of blockchain is that it is a public digital ledger, a giant spreadsheet that is live across a network of thousands of computers. Anyone on the network can see the changes being made on the spreadsheet, but any changes must be verified by all computers before they are recorded permanently onto the spreadsheet.

Because each computer in the network has a copy of this spreadsheet, blockchain is veritably secure; hackers would have to gain access to the entire network of computers in order to make changes to the blockchain. Likewise, this encrypted data is stored on this network of computers, removing the need to worry about old server maintenance.

Therefore, blockchain technology can prevent, or at least mitigate, future data breaches. According to an official in the Department of Homeland Security, “blockchain technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way we manage online identity and access the internet; this R&D project will help bring this potential closer to reality.”

Additionally, blockchain would increase transparency. If citizens and local governments shared access to secured data in a blockchain, issues such as property disputes or fraudulent behavior could be minimized.

Of course, blockchain can also create cost savings and increase efficiency. On top of using blockchain to help reconcile the trillions of dollars of unreconciled funds in the federal budget, according to GSA, a blockchain solution could lower proposal analysis from forty days to ten days.

Sources:

http://fortune.com/2018/03/16/congress-blockchain-government/

https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/public-sector/understanding-basics-of-blockchain-in-government.html

 

 

New Supreme Court Justice: Brett Kavanaugh

Family Man Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated by the current president of the United States, to serve as one of nine members on the Supreme Court. He was vetted and recommended to the president by the Federalist society and the Heritage foundation along with a long list of other qualified officials. Among those officials who were brought to the attention of, but not chosen by the president are three other stellar choices for the conservatives Judge Thomas M. Hardiman, Judge Raymond M. Kethledge and Judge Amy Coney Barrett, each have contributed greatly to the justice department. Kavanaugh was selected to join the supreme court after serving 12 years as a Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit, which has produced a number of justices.

Brett Kavanaugh was born February 12 1965 to Edward and Martha Kavanaugh. In a recent interview Kavanaugh called his mother a “trailblazer.”, and the reason he decided to create a career in justice. After graduating cum laude from Washington School of Law at American University in 1978, Martha Kavanaugh, became prosecutor in Montgomery County, Maryland, Brett’s home state. During Kavanaugh’s childhood he recalls listening to his mother’s closing arguments at the family dinner table. His mother’s passion for the law inspired him to go to Yale Law school, where he eventually graduated from in 1990. Three years after his law school graduation Kavanaugh served as Justice Anthony Kennedy’s clerk, the justice who he is now replacing. In the late 1990’s along with Kenneth Star, Kavanaugh was a key member of the independent counsel, which produced the report that served as the basis for president Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Following which he served in the Bush White house from 2001 to 2006. And finally finished his career to date as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals. Where he has issued approximately 300 opinions and has delivered numerous speeches.

At 53, Kavanaugh is known as a family man, he currently coaches his daughter’s basketball team and has been a committed member of his community for years. Along with family religion also plays a major part in Kavanaugh’s life and effects his judicial decisions. Kavanaugh is a stalwart for religious freedom. Russell More, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention said he is confident Kavanaugh will be a strong defender of the freedoms guaranteed by the constitution and Bill of Rights, especially our first freedom of religious liberty. Kavanaugh will continue to uphold his values and morals in the highest court in the land.

In the upcoming weeks Judge Kavanaugh will embark on a busy schedule of courtesy calls and visits to key members of the senate judiciary committee and other senators where he will discuss with them his judicial philosophy, past rulings and public statements. To assist his process the white house will roll out an intensive campaign to sell the nominee to the senate and the American public. He has to be voted in by the legislative branch by the senate. But until then there is no settled justice because the senate has not decided yet.

Sources:

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-07-09/trump-says-he-cant-go-wrong-with-his-top-court-contenders

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/martha-kavanaugh-mother-brett-kavanaughs-supreme-court-nominee/

What 5G Technology Has to Offer

5G or 5th generation technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we live our lives and the way we do business. Starting at 2G and moving up to 3G and eventually to 4G we have seen a shift in the standard of connectivity and speed that we expect. The change from 4G to 5G however, is a game-changer as the improvement is not only in terms of speed however, it also increases the number of possibilities. 5G will push mobile speeds from 100 Mbps to upward of 10 Gbps, the thought of waiting to files to download or websites to open will all be gone. Our tasks will be completed even before we can think of what to do next.

It is essential to highlight what the introduction of this technology will do, this isn’t just upgrading the network that we use and improving the speed of it. This technology will introduce ideas we haven’t even thought about yet and connect things we thought could never possibly be connected. Your watch will keep track of your heartbeat and feed information simultaneously to your kitchen on what food should be prepared. Your kitchen will be able to stock groceries and order by itself based on what you have run out of and what your preferences are, the opportunities and possibilities are endless with the introduction of this technology which makes it all the more fascinating.

This technology is going to thrive on the amount of data that it will be able to produce, store and share with other platforms that are connected to the network. The “era of connectivity” is here and rules and regulations don’t seem to worry companies investing in the technology as of now. They know that once introduced the hurdle of what is taking it too far will present its self however, many believe however that it’s a temporary one. Many people who hold management positions in companies that are from various industries endorsed the technology by claiming that “it will enable new products and services” that haven’t been invented yet. Businesses are also appreciating the fact that it will increase efficiency in the way we use our energy. The speculation is that the technology will decrease the amount of energy that is used in networks, in terms of fulfilling their corporate social responsibility and keeping up to date with technology they are essentially killing two birds with one stone.

5G is set to be really big upon it’s estimated release in 2020. However, today’s society is driven by numbers and everyone wants to know just how big. After taking a look at 21 potential uses of 5G technology its is said to unlock about $12.3 trillion dollars across several industries. It is just a matter of time now to see what many companies come out with involving the technology.

Source:

https://www.business.att.com/learn/empowered-workforce/what-5g-means-for-business.html