Data Roaming Plans

Since we're constantly configuring our customer's mobile devices to work with Google Apps and Office 365 we're frequently asked for advice on what to do when travelling to the U.S. with your phone.

In February of last year I provided details on how to save money on roaming by swapping your Rogers SIM card for an AT&T SIM card.

MobileSyrup today published the latest data roaming rates from Rogers and it's still extremely expensive; making the hassles of unlocking your phone and swapping your SIM card still worthwhile.

I made 2 recent trips into the U.S. and spent $25 USD for a 500 Mb prepaid data plan on AT&T which would have cost $200 CAD from Rogers. Plus I paid $15 and switched on the $2 per day plan for unlimited voice and text compared to $40 for 40 minutes through Rogers. AT&T only charges you the $2 if you use the phone on that day and you can choose to pay $0.10 per minute instead.

I'm a pretty heavy user of data plans since I make my Android phone a portable Wi-Fi hotspot for my tablet and notebook so 100 Mb doesn't last long on the road.

Contact us at Interlockit.com with any questions about your mobile device so we can keep you highly productive on the go.

Blair Collins from Interlockit.com will be presenting at the Entrepreneurial Masters Program

Blair Collins from Interlockit.com will be presenting at the Entrepreneurial Masters Program at MIT in Boston on June 25th.  The topic is "What Cloud Computing, the next big trend, really means to your business."

The Entrepreneurial Masters Program brings together 65 remarkable entrepreneurs – each a company Founder or Co-Founder who leads a company that grosses more than US$1 million — for four days on a suburban campus of MIT.

For more details on the program visit http://events.eonetwork.org/emp.

Custom Reports in Solve360

As businesses grow, the challenge of understanding and managing relationships and opportunities can become a daunting task. Obtaining an uncompromised view of the "big picture" often ends up being more trouble than it's worth--especially for a growing business!

With the help of Interlockit.com, custom reporting is a cinch. Using the powerful integration of the Solve360 API and Google Docs Scripts, Interlockit.com can build real-time reporting and analytics specific to your business needs!

Contact Interlockit.com today!

Congratulations to Norada Solve360 on "Google Apps Marketplace Staff Pick"

GoogleatWork is the official Twitter home of Google Enterprise plus Google Apps.  Solve360 received the Staff Pick this past Friday and is a "Featured App" on the Google Apps Marketplace home page.

At Interlockit.com we've helped over 25 customers switch to Norada Solve360.  Their well deserved average rating on the Google Apps Marketplace is 5 stars on 106 customer reviews.

It's a ton of fun helping businesses with Solve360 because it has such a big impact on their operations and is nothing like anything they've seen before.

Congratulations to the entire team at Norada.

Smartphone Services

Future Shop has announced that starting today their ConnectPro team provides Smartphone Services.

The challenge is that you need to understand the nuances of the back end email systems like Google Apps to configure it right the first time.

We've setup hundreds of mobile phones for our customer's and the majority arrive from the store or cell phone carrier configured poorly.  Blackberry, iPhone, Android all can do Calendar and Contact sync over the cell network without having to "plug in".

Get the setup wrong and you can duplicate or corrupt your calendar and contacts easily.  Be cautious hiring your regular computer technician to implement Google Apps as we've cleaned up lots of messes lately.   Doing it right the first time costs less.

We can fully understand why lots of errors are made; on an iPhone you add your Google Apps account with the Microsoft Exchange icon so that it uses ActiveSync.  Not terribly intuitive since there's a Google Mail icon right below it...

Contact us at Interlockit.com for a professional implementation of Google Apps and configuration of your mobile phone for email, calendar, and contacts.  We'll get your entire company and all your devices working in sync.

Google Apps Directory Sync Exclude Organization

With release 2.01 of Google Apps Directory Sync you can exclude organizations within your Google Apps domain from being sychronized.  This avoids having to individually exclude accounts like administrators or any other account that isn't in your LDAP or Active Directory.

However, there is zero documentation provided and we've found that only substring match will work.

Note also that there is an issue we confirmed with Google support that should be fixed in a future release where this exclusion rule will not work on any usernames that contain capital letters.  So if the username is Username@yourdomain.com instead of username@yourdomain.com this exclusion rule won't work on that account.  We had to use the GAM command line tool to rename some accounts to work around this issue for a customer.

If you would like some assistance with Google Apps Directory Sync feel free to contact Interlockit.com.

2nd Interlockit.com team member becomes a Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialist

We now have 2 staff members who are officially Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialists.

Once again we have demonstrated our high level of expertise and focus on Google Apps deployments since 2009.

How many Certified Deployment Specialists does your IT provider have?

Interlockit.com team member officially becomes a Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialist

Adoption of Google Apps is accelerating around the world with over 3 million businesses that have gone Google.  The Google partner community has more than doubled in the last year to over 2,500 partners in over 70 countries.

As far as we can tell less than 150 people have passed the Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialist exam.  Interlockit.com is pleased to be able to further differentiate ourselves in the Google Apps Marketplace.

Interlockit.com has successfully migrated over 2,500 users to Google Apps.  Deploying Google Apps is what we love to do!

Does your current provider have any Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialists on staff?

Blackberry Protect and remote wipe of mobile phones

What would happen if you suddenly lost your phone?  Does your phone auto lock with a PIN?  Can you wipe the data?  Can you remotely locate it?

RIM has just released Blackberry Protect for free to all North American users via the Blackbery App World.  You can use Blackberry Protect to locate, remotely lock, or wipe data from your Blackberry device if it is lost or stolen.  We recommend this software to all blackberry customers that are not running Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES).

Android and Windows Mobile devices can use Lookout Mobile Security which provides similar features.

Your phone has highly valuable personal information.  Grab some piece of mind now by installing one of these utilities on your phone.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

We mentioned back in March 2010 that Google had acquired DocVerse and have been eagerly awaiting the product release.  It's finally here and wow did Google deliver!  They brought simultaneous document editing to Office 2003, 2007, and 2010.  There is no need to purchase an Office 2010 upgrade and setup a Sharepoint server or Skydrive to gain the Microsoft equivalent of this feature.

What is simultaneous editing?  It means that multiple people can edit the exact same document at the exact same time and automatically see the other person's changes.  With simultaneous editing you can work on different slides of a single Powerpoint presentaton file at the same time or update meeting minutes in a single Microsoft Word file at the same time.

By the way, simultaneous editing has been available with native Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Presentations for years now.   It makes collaborating on documents and presentations a breeze.

I tested Google Cloud Connect by opening an existing Microsoft Word document in Office 2010 on one computer and synched it with Google Cloud Connect.  I then downloaded from Google Docs and opened it with another computer running Office 2007.  When I changed lines of text on either computer and clicked the save button, within seconds the other computer would refresh and show the same change.  Incredible functionality and I think that explains why it took almost 1 year from acquisition to release the product.

For more details and a video overview check out Google's official blog posting and Google Docs Help

Transition from Salesforce.com to Norada Solve360

Announcing the official launching of our Salesforce.com activity and opportunity migration tool!

We can migrate tasks, events, and activity records and emails from Salesforce.com to Norada Solve360 starting at $495 USD. Mapping custom activity fields and migrating lead activity adds slightly to the cost. We provide fixed priced estimates after reviewing your Salesforce.com and Solve360 account.

The history is pushed into a formatted note on the appropriate contact or company (Account) record.

Update: We can migrate open and closed Salesforce.com opportunity records too!

Give us a call at (416) 840-6268 or visit us at http://www.interlockit.com

Why isn't your current IT consultant or reseller promoting the cloud?

Cloud Computing is a disruptive wave that provides cheaper, more convenient, and simpler business solutions that work.  So why isn't your current consultant or reseller recommending Cloud Computing solutions?

It's simple:

1. Cloud software vendors sell direct to the customer and give little or zero margin to the reseller.
2. Consultants compete globally in the cloud for engagements because cloud systems can be setup and managed from anywhere without complex remote access solutions.
3. On-premise consultants know your existing network infrastructure and server configurations making customer's loyal to them for future work.  In the cloud you only need a web browser so the customer is more likely to choose the cloud software expert over their existing consultant.
4. For every $1 customers spend on Microsoft enterprise licensing fees, they spend $8 with consultants and channel vendors customizing Microsoft's tools or integrating other products.  This ecosystem works well with an on-premise model that requires physical management and integration of systems.

Bottom line is that, until forced to change, existing consultants and resellers will continue to focus on what makes them the most money which is traditional on-premise systems.

The challenge for Cloud Computing focused vendors like us is to constantly find new customers because the  recurring consulting dollars for us are much smaller.  However, we're 100% committed to cloud solutions because fundamentally it is the best solution for the customer.

We love our work because we're blazing a new trail and every day making our customer's extraordinarily happy with moving their business to the cloud.

Spam takes another hit: email authentication available to millions of Google Apps customers

Google has been an early and consistent supporter of email authentication technologies, which help ensure senders are who they say they are, and in turn help to curb spam.  Interlockit.com configures a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record as a standard component of our Google Apps implementations that prevents spammers from sending messages with forged From addresses from your company domain.

On January 6th, 2011 Google made available the ability for Google Apps customers to sign their outgoing messages with DKIM, so that your sent mail is less likely to get caught up in recipients' spam filters.  Think of it as a finger print on your outgoing email that a spammer can't duplicate.  We've tested it for a few weeks and definitely recommend setting this up on all Google Apps accounts.

Google Apps is the first major email platform to offer simple DKIM signing at no extra cost other than the labour to configure it.  Once again the power of the cloud has made it possible to bring this feature to millions of customers quickly and affordably.

It takes an Interlockit.com team member about 30 minutes to configure DKIM on your DNS hosting control panel and on your Google Apps account.

If you are interested in having this feature enabled to ensure that more of your outgoing email reaches its destination  give us a call at (416) 840-6268.

Rogers Blackberry with Google Sync and Blackberry Internet Service Synchronization

Watch out for an issue we just encountered today with Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) on Rogers with a Blackberry Bold running Blackberry OS 5.0:

• if you change your price plan with Rogers it will reset your BIS settings and turn on Sync Contacts, and Sync Calendar via BIS automatically.  This will cause massive duplication of Google Calendar entries and corruption of address fields in Google Contacts if you also have Google Sync installed and running on your phone.  The difference between synching with BIS and Google Sync was discussed on a prior blog post here
• We still recommend using the Google Sync because it works better and faster than the BIS sync

The solution is to sign out of Google Sync before making changes to your account.  The next day review your BIS setup via the Email setup icon on your phone and make sure the Synchronization of calendar and contacts is turned off.  Then restart/login to Google Sync again.

Update April 19, 2011: We're seeing this issue much more frequently now across Rogers, Telus, and Bell.  They are upgrading their backend BIS systems so suddently Contact and Calendar sync can get turned on with zero warning causing corruption of Calendar and Contacts.  We hope that the cell phone companies will work with RIM to warn users before making the surprise upgrade.  As a result of this we strictly turn on the BIS Contact and Calendar Sync if supported by the phone.

New Year's Predictions and Milestones Achieved

Interlockit.com has now migrated over 2000 users to Google Apps!

The majority of our larger customers have migrated from Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 but we've also helped organizations of all sizes move away from traditional ISP hosted POP3/IMAP email accounts with Easyhosting.com, Bellhosting.ca, Telushosting.com, Godaddy.com, Networksolutions.com, and even from Hosted Microsoft Exchange at Sherweb.com.

One customer install really highlights an advantage of going all web browser based.  They had attempted to use a Hosted Microsoft Exchange Server solution for their employees spread around the world and in some countries where internet data lines are unreliable.  Going web browser based with Google Apps dramatically improved their ability to communicate and collaborate in real time across the company.  In particular they can finally communicate electronically with their employees in the Democratic Republic of Congo via Google Apps.

We're seing an increase in inquiries for Microsoft Online Services/BPOS deployments also.  Ultimately we deploy what the customer chooses but certainly discuss the pro's and con's of each option.  The head to head competition between Google and Microsoft is great for our customers in the end.

Our number one prediction for 2011 is that the pace of adoption of Cloud Computing solutions like Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS/Office 365 will continue to accelerate; and, as an early adopter that focuses exclusively on Cloud Solutions, Interlockit.com will continue to both save our customers money over the long term but also provide them with a better way of running their business.

Interlockit.com - Moving Businesses to the Cloud

Google defines 100% Web

Google today posted an excellent article about bringing customers to a world they call 100% web. Interlockit.com has helped numerous customers move their businesses to the cloud ranging from 1000's of users to sole proprietors. Defining the vision we share of 100% web will help future customers better spot the numerous cloud pretenders.

"This year cloud computing went mainstream, and the conversations moved beyond "this is a way to cut costs" to "this is a better way to run my business."  While many IT vendors have now adopted (or co-opted) the term “cloud computing” to describe a wide variety of technologies, most don’t deliver on the true promise of the cloud. Hosting single-tenant server products in a data center is not cloud computing. Nor is requiring customers to install thick client software. These solutions lock-in customers to multi-year release cycles, leave them with the significant costs of managing client software, and expose sensitive data on insecure devices."

You can read the complete Google Enterprise blog post here

How to create mailing labels from Google Apps

After much experimenting here is a way to do mailing labels from your Google Apps for Business/Premier Edition contacts:

1. If you're only using Google Apps from the web interface, install Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook (requires Business Edition), don't import anything, run it, and allow it to finish loading your contacts.  No need to wait for it to sync the first 1 Gb of your email.
2. Open Microsoft Word (2007 or 2010 in my case), choose Mailings, Start Mail Merge, Labels, and select your label format.  Mine was Avery US Letter 5160 Easy Peel Address Labels.
3. Click Select Recipients, Select from Microsoft Outlook Contacts.  (You can fine tune the filters and the list of contacts again later by clicking Edit Recipient List from the toolbar.)
4. Click Address Block, Match Fields.  Beside "Address 1" choose "Home Address" or "Business Address" appropriately.  Change all the remaining address fields such as "City" to "(not matched)".  Since addresses in Google Apps are free format they don't parse consistently into the appropriate fields so choosing Home Address in Address 1 and clearing the rest of the fields gets around this problem.
5. Click Update Labels to make all the labels the same format.  Click Preview Results.
6. Select All (Ctrl-A) and change fonts, sizes, and line spacing according to your preferences.
7. Finish and Merge to a new document for further editing or send it to the printer.  You're all done!

P.S. I tried exporting the contacts into Google csv or Outlook csv format,  and converting them to an Excel spreadsheet using Excel or Google Spreadsheets but this gave me too many issues with the formatting of the addresses.  Maybe your contact list is cleaner than mine.  If you know another way that works well please share the knowledge and post a comment.

Family members, your Christmas cards on their way...

How to synchronize your Google Apps Calendar and Contacts with your Blackberry smartphone

As posted here on the official Blackberry blog, phones with Device Software 5.0 or higher can do wireless calendar and contacts synchronization without installing Google Apps Sync for Blackberry on the phone.

We've tested this out and it works but there are a few caveats:

• It causes many duplicates whereas we have not seen this issue with the Google Sync tool.  You can use the Google Apps Contact Merge option to clean them up later.
• You can't tell the phone to "Sync Now" like you can from the Google Sync icon.   If you create a contact on the phone it is immediately added to Google Apps.  However, we added a contact to Google Apps and after 3 hours it still hadn't arrived on the phone.  It's definitely not a push contact sync like Google Apps with the iPhone or Android.
• You can't sync multiple calendars like the Google Sync tool can.
• You can't specify how many weeks forward and back to keep in sync.

So the only advantage is that you don't have to install the Google Sync tool on your phone.

We recommend continuing to use the Google Sync for Blackberry tool.

Certainly give us a call at interlockit.com for assistance.

Android wallops Blackberry

Back on March 21, 2010 I blogged about the cost savings of using Android phones.

The Globe and Mail reports that Android phones account for a dominant 44 percent of the consumer smartphone market in Q3 2010

We're big proponents of the cloud because we're saving corporations lots of money on their IT and putting them on a continuous innovation curve; but we'll miss the billable hours from configuring Blackberries. :)

With an Android phone you sign it into your Google Apps account and you're done.  Email, Calendar, and Contact sync starts working immediately.

Tip:  Only buy phones with version 2.1 or greater of the Android OS.  And make sure the manufacturer is going to upgrade it to version 2.2 which is faster and adds flash player support.

In Canada we recommend the Google Nexus One from Videotron, Samsung Galaxy S from Rogers, HTC Desire from Telus, Motorola Milestone from Telus, and the HTC Desire Z from Bell

Enjoy!

Announcing: Norada Solve 360 CRM and Project Management Software

A common customer question is "How do I share my contacts with others?"

After much research we have signed on as a partner for Norada Solve360 Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  We compared it to Zoho, BatchBook, insight.ly, and Salesforce.com (which we use internally but will be switching).  The Solve360 user interface is fantastic, simple to use, yet powerful.  Google Apps is not just an application but a platform into which many products can already integrate. 

When you combine Norada Solve360 with Google Apps, Mailchimp/Constant Contact, Freshbooks, plus Mobile contacts and calendar synchronization you have the ultimate integrated platform for superior customer relationship management, marketing, sales results, project management, time management, and invoicing.

The real time integration is suberb and is an excellent showcase of the advantages of cloud computing.

Solve360 pricing starts at $40 per month for 3 users which is a huge bargain compared to the market leader Salesforce.com at $195 per month for 3 users.

Norada Solve360 is seeing huge growth and we're proud to be a business partner.