ESP Projects Ltd: IT Support - Sheffield

It started back in June, just as the Office 2010 licence arrived on our doormat and the first couple of brave technical staff ventured into the unknown. Its only August, but already it appears that the latest version of Word, Excel & Outlook has won us over. Indeed, the majority of staff are either working entirely from Office 2010 or are keen to take the plunge. So what have we learnt?

The first point is about usability. The new ‘look’ - the ‘ribbon’ first introduced in Office 2007 - proved a lot less hard to work with than we initially feared. Admittedly, many of us Office 2003 veterans were expecting to find that menu options we once knew and loved had been removed or hidden away. Yet in practise we’ve had to admit defeat. Everything I’ve needed thus far has been right there on an icon in front of me rather than buried away – exactly as MS intended. Not only that, but some things – recent documents, printing, mail merges, styling previews – have even become easier!

Regular readers of the Newsbolt may well recall that two years ago (how can it have been so long!), a team of ESP staff went on a ‘Canoe Challenge’ to help raise funds for Endeavour Training, a charity specialising in supporting young people. Basically this involved paddling 33 miles over 10 hours in the freezing October wind and rain. Amazingly we won our ‘Novice’ class and raised over £800 for Endeavour too!

Well now that the illnesses, injuries and aching limbs are a distant memory, we have decided to do it all over again! We have already been on a couple of practise runs (aka swimming opportunities) at Chesterfield canal, and there are more to come. Please believe us when we say this isn’t just a jolly for ESP, it’s a tough, cold and incredibly wet weekend-long effort and so we are appealing to all clients who’d like to see us suffer to sponsor us online at http://www.justgiving.com/espcanoechallenge. Thank you for your support!

The second in our series of mini-articles about Twitter, this time we look at the ‘tweet’ itself. By now you’ll have signed up for an account online at http://www.twitter.com. Head there again now, and log in with your username and password. Once you’ve completed your ‘profile’, you’re ready for your first tweet!

A tweet is simply a message of 140 characters or less, in answer to the question “What’s Happening?”. You can tweet anything you like, but bear in mind that - once sent - your tweet becomes publicly viewable information. It is of course far more likely to be seen by your ‘followers’ than anyone else, as they will automatically receive your tweets in their chosen software. Go ahead and send a tweet now!

The next vital step is to structure your tweets using the ‘hash’ symbol (#). Wherever a word is immediately preceded by this # sign, it means that the message is intended to contribute to an existing conversation on that topic. For example, a tweet containing the text ‘#Office2010’ would be used to signify to other users that the message is ‘about’ Microsoft Office 2010. By using these ‘hashtags’, your tweet is no longer an inaudible whisper in the vast twittersphere, but a valid contribution to a topic that many thousands of people are actively listening to. Find out what hashtags are relevant to you by looking at other peoples tweets or searching the web! Good luck!!

As you might have seen from our recent tweets, Microsoft announced back in the spring that they would be launching a tailored version of their Dynamics CRM software for UK charities later this year. This follows hot on the heels of its release in the US.  CRM systems (CRM meaning Customer or Constituent Relationship Management) are much in demand in the sector and we have a steady flow of requests for recommendations in this area. In the past, we have  always made people aware of some of the existing software in this field, ranging from commercial products like SalesForce, to open source solutions like CiviCRM. There are also several sector-specific programs like VC-Connect, ContactLink, ThirdBase and AIMS. It will be very interesting to keep an eye out for the Microsoft offering later in the year.

In the meantime, there is an interesting looking event in London on 24th September on this very topic. Check it out here:    http://www.pythagoras.co.uk/membership_seminar.aspx.

ESP has been busy recently building links with partners so that we can offer a more comprehensive service to you, our cherished customers!

For many years, people have asked us for advice on broadband providers and we have signposted to third parties such as Eclipse and Zen Internet. However this has always necessitated the customer ordering a line from BT and in some cases ordering the broadband themselves.  Now however we are able to arrange all aspects of broadband, from the line itself right through to the installation of the service.  We can even procure lines that have broadband pre-activated, cutting the time involved to a minimum.  Talk to ESP Sales team for all of your broadband needs – we have everything from superfast uncapped services to regular £competitive entry-level packages!