The Bay Area IT Experts

#1 - Engagement - Businesses have been using telephone-based audio meetings to their benefit for a while; and, have been successful in doing so. With the technology that is available today, however, allowing for better engagement through video. This isn’t just because meeting attendees can see a presenter, but because each person can now choose to see other attendees. This changes the communication skills that are needed. A well-run and efficient video conference can function much like a meeting where everyone is physically in the same room. 

#2 - It Connects Teams - With many businesses trying to take advantage of remote computing solutions, having a video conferencing platform available allows teams to connect in ways that were just impossible only a few years ago. Workers are happier when they don’t have to travel to a central office, and video conferencing makes it possible to have regular and productive meetings, even if people are out of the office. It also gives organizations the opportunities to cut down on their human resources costs by taking advantage of freelancers.

#3 - Helps You Get to the Point - With better engagement and more structure to the meetings you hold, meetings won’t go on very long and you and your team can hash out the issues they need to address and then get back to work quickly. 

#4 - Employee Satisfaction - As was stated earlier, people like to work from home. Even if they are working the same amount, they feel like their work/life balance is in their control. This is a major selling point for any employee, and can result in less turnover, fewer complaints, and a higher employee retention rate. 

#5 - It’s Efficient and Effective - In-person meetings can take up a large portion of the work day. This is largely because there are tangents that go on in the duration of a meeting that don’t have anything to do with the stated objective of the meeting. Video conferencing can present a great alternative that will keep people on point and working toward the goals of the meeting. 

If you are looking to cut down on your meeting times, while also getting a solution that will work from anywhere with an Internet connection, look no further than the video conferencing options you can get through 415 IT. Call our knowledgeable consultants today for more information at (415) 295-4898.

What is Two-Step Verification?

It’s two-step authentication, a security measure that adds the traditional password with a secondary authentication that forces users to add additional proof of identity. Microsoft’s strategy is to contact a user every time a device is used to access an account. Users can use email, phone, or an authenticator app to gain access. 

Turning on Two-Step Verification for Your Microsoft Account

The process to activate two-step verification is simple:

• Sign into the Security basics page for your Microsoft account
• Access More security options
• Locate Two-step verification, and select Set up two-step verification
• Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process

Microsoft offers the options of choosing a phone number, an email address, or an authentication app. If you choose the latter, you will have to link your account to the app of your choice. 

If you are looking to add two-step verification for your Microsoft account, our professionals can help. To get the help your organization needs, contact our knowledgeable IT professionals today at 415 IT at (415) 295-4898.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality is an interactive experience where the resources of the smartphone coupled with AR software produce objects over the display of a device. Examples include the first down line they superimpose on a football broadcast, the filters that many messaging apps have integrated, and the immensely popular mobile game Pokemon Go.

Of course, these mostly are novelty uses, but businesses have made big efforts to incorporate AR technology into their marketing efforts over the past few years. IKEA famously uses AR technology in their IKEA Place app. It allows people to forecast what a room in their house would look like if they purchased a piece of furniture.

Google, understanding the extraordinarily useful applications of AR, launched their ARCore platform in March 2018. ARCore features three innovative technologies that provide mobile application developers the tools they need to build AR apps. They are:

• Six degrees of freedom - makes device movement in any three-dimensional space possible.
• Environmental understanding - allows the AR app on the device to detect the size and location of horizontal structures. 
• Light estimation - provides current environment’s lighting condition. 

This platform is allowing more developers than ever to integrate real time information into their applications for the user’s benefit. This has resulted in record growth for the technology in 2019, and that is only scratching the surface. 

Google is not the only company that is all in on AR. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook are also making serious commitments to the technology. This is leading to a major boost in application development.

In the future, AR-fueled applications will be used in dozens of industries for hundreds of purposes. In fact, more than 100 million users have already used AR-enabled shopping applications. You will have to expect that as 5G wireless technology gets rolled out that number will be dwarfed by the number that will over the next few years. 

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