Bringing business to the cloud

For those of you who know me I think it is safe to say that I have earned the ability to post this blog after being involved in technology and privacy since 1992 in a very intimate way.  For those that do not know me I invite you to research if you so choose in order to validate my thoughts. This whole effort to validate privacy and government access is a crock.  The Patriot Act was established long ago and has provided our fine country all access to phone, Internet and financial data since its inception.  If you make a phone call it costs money people, if you send an email that was done on a device or connection that costs money or was transacted for free it is capable of being intercepted by our defense dept. There must be a new incentive/motive for this discussion about privacy and spying that is created by Corporate America.  In the most recent articles I have read I shake my head.  Our government has had this ability for over 12 years and I personally a...

Thank you for those who attended the 8:30 session this morning which I know could be tough.  Congratulations to our first 10 attendees that walked away with Windows 8 and Office 2013 for FREE!  For those that did not attend, here are my notes and answers to questions asked after the presentation.  The presentation was recorded and will be available online by Digital Dealer as they have prepared. Q.  Why is Windows XP not compliant in April, 2014?      A. The support for operating system updates and security patches will no longer be supported by Microsoft after April, 2014.  Due to the lack of updates, the operating system will no longer by PCIC or GLB compliant.  What's more is that users will likely be targeted for attacks from cyber criminals just as has happened in the past with retired operating systems. Q. We are thinking about utilizing thin clients instead of PCs in our store.  Do you have any recommendations ...

R unning a dealership is a complex business and requires computers to manage operations. Sure, there’s a DMS to handle inventory, accounting and OEM requirements, but we’re talking about the day-to-day business that requires multiple devices and PCs, with licensed operating systems and office software. Unfortunately, most dealerships aren’t keeping their PCs current, licensed and legal. Recently, thousands of dealerships were surveyed and scanned regarding their use of basic PC office software and technology. In a survey done by Microsoft Cloud Services, information was collected on how many PCs/laptops were at a dealership and what operating system and software was installed. In addition, dealers were surveyed on the number of unique e-mail addresses and how those addresses are being utilized. The results aren’t pretty. This will give you the opportunity to see where your dealership fits in. Dealerships, on average, have 80 PCs with 100 e-mail addresses, along with a varie...

With so many acronyms being invented because of the "cloud" we'd like to explain what SAAS or Software as a Service means and give an example of a splendid use of the concept for auto dealers. At the end of this blog post we have a link to a story on just one dealer who has adopted this solution. In a survey that we did at one of my companies, Microsoft Cloud Services, we started to scan dealership technology and survey how many P.C.s are on the lot inclusive of laptops as well as details like which operating system and version of Microsoft Office they have installed because in our studies the two were a requirement to get business done.  We also asked how many unique email addresses are being utilized and what those email addresses are being utilized for.  We also asked which provider they used for email services as well as how many mobile devices are in use at the dealership. We have the surveyed information from thousands of dealerships from Digital Dealer, Driv...

Dealerships were amongst the first community businesses to be computerized. So why are most dealers having such a hard time with e-mails, spam, viruses and other computer issues?  Dealerships are essentially behind because they were so far ahead. Dealer management systems were developed long before the technology reached the masses — long before there were PCs, e-mail and today’s plethora of PDAs and smartphones. Today’s dealership looks nothing like the dealership of the past. Remember when there used to be satellite dishes (lots of dishes — one for each franchise) on the roofs of dealerships and dumb terminals on the desks? That was how we communicated with the DMS and OEMs. Remember the day of servers underneath a desk or in a closet next to the reams of paper and extra toilet paper? Unfortunately, this early  computerization delayed the utilization of PCs and certain common programs....

When the rumors became reality this morning about Dominion releasing a DMS at NADA this year I was delighted!  I had multiple people email me, call me, tweet and even text me asking if we knew about the "BIG NEWS!" and they all asked how I feel about it. And then I read Ralph Paglia's post.  What an absolute pollution of the industry some posts have become and this one in my humble opinion tops the list as the most poorly written blog post in history.  If you're going to get all emotional and sprinkle the internet with your bathroom opinions, do it there.  Why would I say something this bold?  Allow me a moment to explain the reality of what is going on instead of the garbage you might read elsewhere. Microsoft doesn't build DMS systems, they empower their partners who have earned Microsoft's respect.  The relationship between Microsoft and Dominion is simple, Dominion is a member of the Microsoft Partner Network.  This means that Do...

Go to Settings > Cellular > Network selection      choose "tap to select" and wait for a few minutes      choose the second AT&T option Go to Settings > Access Point      choose the second option "AT&T - LTE 2 - Lumia"      wait for it to say "active" Reboot phone Note: I tried every other configuration including building a custom APN and Internet profile.  None worked. This only took me three hours tonight to figure out... figuring out internet sharing next.