As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity and security of employee information, the M Squared Strategies personnel files are now fully encrypted, stored, and managed using Jungle Disk, which offers industry-leading security and privacy protection. This convenient online system not only offers real-time syncing but also automatic backups. We can all rest easy knowing our information is secured.
Busy, Busy IT!
With all of the new hires and AMPs joining the company, the M Squared IT Services team has been hard at work on-boarding consultants with new hardware and software. In addition, the team completed a domain name change for the company. In support of M Squared’s marketing efforts to maintain consistent branding, all ‘@m2strat.com’ email addresses have been changed to ‘@msquaredstrategies.com’.
Our New Face on the Web is Officially Live and Well!
M Squared launched our new website in February. With a thorough introduction to the company, information about of each of our primary service lines, details on how to contract and partner with us, postings about current job openings, and, naturally, contact information, the new site is already attracting increased traffic from Google.
This launch was no small undertaking. The Marketing and Information Technology Services (ITS) teams worked closely together and coordinated efforts to prepare an infrastructure to host our newest marketing tool. To ensure consistent professionalism, ITS will be converting all of our email addresses to the ‘@msquaredstrategies.com’ format to match our new domain name. This transition will take place over the summer and should be seamless.
ITS Upgrades Inventory System
To drive towards further clarity and accountability of company assets, M Squared IT Services recently upgraded our inventory tracking system. Andrew Slawter, Elizabeth Nurse and Mary Flannery identified all of our physical assets, re-classified equipment, labeled hardware and re-organized our equipment storage at headquarters.
Once the initial reorganization was complete, Andrew and Elizabeth merged existing inventory records with the new data compiled during the project and designed a custom SharePoint list that offers streamlined inventory control. Accessible from any web browser, the new inventory list offers quick and accurate status of equipment, streamlining the on-boarding and off-boarding process and reducing the number of duplicate entries in the system. We are currently preparing the new inventory records for integration with our new accounting software to ensure that financial records of our assets remain accurate.
Though the project (which began in June) was quite an undertaking, it was an excellent demonstration of how we can use existing tools, resources and expertise to accomplish a goal.
M Squared Rolls Out WebEx Online Conferencing
After extensive research and comparative testing among online conferencing solutions, M Squared IT Services is pleased to announce a new capability to schedule, host, and attend internal meetings online through WebEx. WebEx is a well known online conferencing tool and is currently used by thousands of organizations, both large and small, across the world. Its unmatched functionality will allow M Squared employees to schedule meetings in advance or on the fly, and more conveniently than ever. Scheduling the meeting, inviting attendees, and sending out agendas or other meeting materials can all be done all in one easy step with WebEx’s scheduling software.
Andrew Slawter and Wes Cronkite have enabled a WebEx Wiki User Guide with all the information you’ll need to get started. Employees are advised to review the Wiki prior to scheduling any meetings through WebEx. The guide contains information on how to get started using the WebEx software, including many helpful tips, tutorials, and links to other resources already available on the WebEx website. For your next internal meeting don’t just tell your team about that innovative solution you’ve implemented show them through WebEx!
WebEx software offers M Squared useful new functionality and tools for meetings.
- Option of phone dial-in or computer audio
- Automatic document sharing
- Sharing of a single desktop screen for all participants
- Automatic email invite generation to all attendees
SharePoint Emissary
In 2009 M Squared IT Services (MITS) enabled SharePoint by handing the admin keys over to Client Delivery and Corporate Development Managers within the company. Over the past year and a half content and usage of the new tool have grown, but are we indeed more collaborative as a result? Wes Cronkite has teamed up with MITS to review the use of SharePoint both as a collaboration tool and as a means for disseminating important company information for internal consumption. Wes has a background in web web-based project management, communications, and the careful use of web analytics to understand web usage and appropriate marketing strategies. So in an effort to match Wes’ valuable skill set with an increase of requests from SharePoint users to understand how to make better use of the tool, MITS has commissioned him to do a series of stakeholder interviews with the M Squared SharePoint user community. SharePoint Administrators, and a handful of users should expect to hear from the latest edition of the MITS staff at some point this Fall. He may ask some pressing questions about technical usage, business requirements, and why you still aren’t using wiki’s, but staff is asked to kindly remember one thing during the interview with Wes: don’t shoot the Emissary.