Presentation given at TTMBA 2012, by Atlas Economic Research Foundation about data management and office communications.

1. Romulo Lopez
&
Rainer Heufers
DATA MANAGEMENT AND OFFICE
COMMUNICATION

2. Biggest problem in today’s
office
 Too much information (TMI)
 Information overload (where do I start)
 Consumerization of resources everyone is
their own IT.
 Connecting the dots
 Disperse knowledge (Information Silos)

3. Tools to communicate
 Email
 Social Networks
 Wiki’s
 Intranets
 Blogs
 Youtube

4. Tools to store information
 Paper
 Mainframes
 Servers and PC (Personal Computer)
 External disks (Laptops)
 SAS (Software as a Service)
 Cloud

5. Information storage paradigm
shift.
 Paper
 Mainframes - Dumb Terminals Not much can be done
 Personal computer revolution. Store everything on your PC
 Information Grows, use external storage
 Cloud storage
 Box
 Dropbox
 Sugar Sync
 PC is again a dumb or nearly dumb terminal, we use
phones, tablets, readers, VDI (Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure)
 Technology has gone from being centralized, to de-
centralized to being a commodity like electricity or water.

6. Email Tools
 Exchange server, Outlook
 Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail
 Offline email programs (for when you are not
able to be online)
 Franklin Covey (Franklin Planner)
Categorization
 Zero Inbox Philosophy

7. Other alternatives to email
 Social Networks
 Facebook private messages
 SMS and Twitter (hash tags)
 Google Hangouts
 Skype
 Comment tools in services like Box or Wiki or
sites.

8. Document Collaboration
 Microsoft Office (SharePoint and now Office
Live)
http://www.microsoft.com/office/olsb/Splitte
r-EN-US.html
 Google Docs https://docs.google.com
 Zoho Docs https://www.zoho.com/docs/
 Adobe PDF (you need full PDF version to use
it)
 Wikia (from Wikipedia platform)
ttp://www.wikia.com/Wikia

9. Document Collaboration
Less known but interesting
 Slide Share http://www.slideshare.net/
 Prezi http://prezi.com/explore/
 WebEx
 GoToMeeting (Atlas uses this)

10. Content Management systems
CMS
 Sharepoint
 Wordpress
 Typepad
 Blogger
 Wikis
 Microsoft Content Management Server
 Tumblr (Microblogging)
 Twitter (Microblogging)

11. Security
 Norton
 Microsoft Security Essentials
 Trust Apple security and genius like a
Clapping seal!!
 If you are a geek use weird operating systems
like Linux or friendly Ubuntu.

12. Security – Passwords
 Lastpass https://lastpass.com/
 Keypass http://keepass.info/
 Double Authentication
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/ans
wer.py?hl=en&answer=180744
 Fingerprint reader on laptop?
 Random number generator

13. Security – Backups
 Mozy
 Carbonite
 Amazon Cloud S3, Amazon Cloud Player
 Box
 Dropbox
 Icloud (Apple, Itunes for Music)
 Google docs, Picasa Web (Pictures)
 You-tube

14. Security guidelines
 Keep sensitive information of the net.
 Spend time designing your security strategy.
 Use encryption whenever possible.
 Password protect your user when you turn your computer even
after screensaver.
 Wipe used hard drives or destroy them with a construction
hammer, before recycling computer. Darik's Boot And Nuke
 Beware of social engineering attacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_%28security%2
9
 Don’t be a fool. (If you fear someone finding your weird stuff,
don’t even have it online).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020479530457722
1164189123608.html (Why we tell all online)

15. Security tools
 Password manager
 Disk encryption in your computer, password protect your system
(including after screensaver)
 Always use and enable https on email and other services.
 Avoid open Wifi, secure your home or office wifi.
 Use VPN if you need to use open wifi
 Hamachi https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/download.aspx
 Change passwords frequently, specially after trips
 Check what IP’s are used to log on to your email, become familiar with
your usual IP’s
 If you stop using an old account, visit it once a month and delete junk
and change passwords. Forward emails to your main account.
 Register your cellphone with email in case you get locked out.
 Password protect your phone, have remote wipe procedures.
 Fill out security questions in case you get locked out.

16. Database
 CRM or ERP?
 Custom Made (might require to host server)
 Microsoft Access
 Salesforce (cloud)

17. Financial Software
The Mighty Might
 Quicken
 Mint
 Peachtree
 Quickbooks
Or the 800 pound Gorillas
 Raisers Edge
 Sage
 Microsoft Dynamics
 Sage ERP
Check this link:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page5144.cfm

18. Voice and Video
communications
 Skype
 VoIP (Vonage.com, Google Voice)
 Google Hangouts
 WebEx
 GoToMeeting
 Cell phones- Smartphones
 PBX (does anyone uses this?)

19. Licenses
 Techsoup http://www.techsoup.org
 Microsoft
 Adobe
 Intuit.
 Pay as you go (pay by service) specially if you
are in the cloud.
 Use open source
 www.ninite.com

20. A few principles before
choosing software, hardware
or tools.
 Consider it’s learning curve
 Network effects
 Lock in costs
 Don’t forget that software and hardware are tools not your main
business reason.
 Outsource whenever possible
 Give crowdsourcing a chance.
 Rent don’t own
 SAAS prefer out of the box ready to work solutions, avoid servers
or costly custom built solutions that depend on a developer or
particular company.

21. Working trends
 Working from home.
 Working from your nearest coffee house.
 Using shared office spaces.
 Working on a different country or town
 Outsourcing
 Crowdsourcing
 Kony 2012, Invisible Children campaign
 Wikipedia
 Readers, how many of you try to sell your books?
 Usage of mobile devices, IPAD, Kindle
http://www.inc.com/business-travel-2011/apps-that-make-
your-ipad-work-like-a-laptop.html

22. Bonus tool to learn
How to manage your crazy Inbox
The Zero Inbox Tool

23. Zero Inbox Philosophy
 Works best when you can archive messages (not
delete)
 Keep inbox clean only stuff that is current and
not pending is kept, anything that has been
already taken care has been archived.
 Newsletters and non important stuff is archived.
 Personal stuff is handled with Personal email.
(keep your professional and your personal life
separate).
 Unsubscribed from unwanted email or mark as
Spam what is spam.

24. Zero Inbox Philosophy(cont.)
 Use search function to find emails.
 Enforce good subject lines, avoid hi, hello,
just wondering, funny subject lines.
 Keep messages brief, avoid online discussion
unless necessary
 Use email to keep track record.
 Avoid attachments, include relevant
information in message.

25. How to Start Zero Inbox
 Spend long hours filtering stuff and deleting.
 Risk loosing important information
 Preferred option in Extreme cases
Declare email bankruptcy.

26. Final recommendations
 Live a more automatic life
http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/03/why-you-
need-to-make-your-life.html?cm_sp=blog_flyout-_-
schwartz-_-why_you_need_to_make_your_life,
internalize best practices, rehearse and repeat spend
more time thinking about new stuff.
 Learn to learn and Read to just read. (use Blog
readers-RSS, Google Reader, Facebook or Twitter to
find material to read)
 Develop your own brand, keep your reputation, both
offline and online.
 Small changes lead to big changes (Personal story)

27. Change is
possible