Dan St. Hilaire

Recent Posts

Enabling Business Problem Solving from IT to the C-Suite

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  August 21, 2015  /  Workplace Culture   —   No Comments ↓

In a technology-driven world, an IT professional can feel overwhelmed by troubleshooting requests. When technical issues pile up the core of the problem is often overlooked. Thus, your IT professional or department gets trapped in a never-ending cycle of even the simplest of requests, such as teaching digital immigrants how to format headers in Word.

When it comes to operational business efficiency, you need the buy-in of upper management before incremental changes can be made. Ultimately, the solution you bring to the table must be less about leading the way with the latest software, and more about delivering value from the top to the bottom of the company. According to the Harvard Business Review: "[T]he CIO and IT must be seen less as merely developing and deploying technology, and more as a source of innovation and transformation that delivers business value, leveraging technology instead of directly delivering it."

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Tags: Workplace Culture

Microsoft Access Capabilities You Shouldn't Ignore

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  July 27, 2015  /  Access   —   No Comments ↓

Microsoft Access provides a user-friendly interface for managing your data on your desktop and beyond. What Microsoft Access users tend to love most about the online software solution is that it doesn't require its users to be well-versed in code. Its recent move to the cloud allows users to share and control important data like never before. Plus, it's easy to install, integrates well with other software programs and has superior ROI. Read on to learn more about the advantages and the disadvantages of Microsoft Access.

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Tags: Access

3 Problems Solved with Office 365 File Storage Solutions

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  July 13, 2015  /  Microsoft 365, Productivity   —   1 Comments ↓

In an article he contributed to Fast Company entitled "4 Reasons Your Company Needs A Collaboration Upgrade, Stat" Jacob Morgan writes: "An organization is no longer limited to a physical structure or proximity; an organization is now limited only by its ability to connect employees and information together." So, what if that problem—among others—could be alleviated with one simple solution?

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Tags: Microsoft 365, Productivity

Switching to Office 365 for Government

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  June 19, 2015  /  Microsoft 365   —   No Comments ↓

As described in CMS Wire, in November 2014 the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program gave the Department of Health and Human Services its "Authority to Operate" stamp of approval for Office 365. According to Microsoft, this was the first cloud-based email and collaboration service to obtain a FedRAMP authorization. For those who aren't as familiar with the government edition of Office 365, it's a cloud-based email and collaboration suite that "offers U.S. public-sector customers a cordoned-off data center infrastructure just for them," writes Juan Carlos Perez in a contribution to PC World.

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Tags: Microsoft 365

MS10961: Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  June 16, 2015  /  KnowledgeWave Courses   —   No Comments ↓

10961 Automating Administration with PowerShell

About this Course
If you’re an administrator using Microsoft products and you aren’t using PowerShell to automate, you should highly consider this class!  

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Tags: KnowledgeWave Courses

Using Microsoft Excel to Boost Your Data Integrity

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  June 8, 2015  /  Excel   —   No Comments ↓

For today's overworked business environment, there is an increased room for error when it comes to maintaining accurate data. Fortunately, there are tools and techniques for managing data integrity in Microsoft Excel, keeping business users and employees efficient, compliant and happy. Let's take a look at four time-saving tips that will make your daily tasks more manageable.

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Tags: Excel

How to Hone Your Training Techniques for Beginners

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  June 2, 2015  /  Training   —   No Comments ↓

When it comes to software training, you can run into some particular snares that go beyond issues in presenting the information. For one, your audience might simply be less adept or lack confidence when it comes to technology, making it more difficult for them to take in the information even if you use a great training module. When you're working with beginners, it's necessary to take the time to understand their needs and train in a way that benefits them in particular.

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Tags: Training

4 Tips for Customizing Your Virtual-Training Strategy

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  May 26, 2015  /  Training   —   No Comments ↓

Since IT specialists already wear many hats, you likely won't have time to build an entire training platform from scratch yourself. While it's not impossible to create a virtual-training system internally, you can also reach out to a software vendor for prepared videos or work with a company that specializes in creating custom training modules geared toward a particular objective. Whichever way you choose, we've culled some tips to help you keep your colleagues in mind.

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Tags: Training

Better Organize your Outlook in the Business Setting

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  May 4, 2015  /  Outlook, Webinars, KnowledgeWave News, Industry News, Microsoft 365   —   1 Comments ↓

In this webinar, you’ll learn ways to gain control of your Outlook. This can be very challenging and we’ll show you ways to streamline your workflow and make your Outlook experience so much better. Many of us use Outlook all day but may be unaware of some of the amazing tools and underutilized options that will help you be more productive and organized!

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Tags: Outlook, Webinars, KnowledgeWave News, Industry News, Microsoft 365

Top Reasons to Use Google Apps for Work

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  May 4, 2015  /  Webinars, KnowledgeWave News, Industry News, Google   —   No Comments ↓

In this introductory webinar, you’ll receive a tour of the user interface and the many Google Apps for Work offerings. Our goal is to help you better understand how using Google Apps will streamline your workflow. Users will learn about this all-in-one suite to communicate, store and create. We’ll dive into communication tools like Gmail, Hangouts and Calendar. You’ll gain a better understanding of the cloud-based storage solution called Drive and collaborate with Apps like Docs, Sheets and Slides.

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Tags: Webinars, KnowledgeWave News, Industry News, Google

Office 365 Sharing and Collaboration

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  May 1, 2015  /  Microsoft 365, Productivity, Workplace Culture   —   No Comments ↓

How to collaborate with your colleagues 

Get a look with our latest member recorded webinar, you’ll get an inside look at sharing and collaborating with Office 365 and SharePoint Online. We’ll show you a side-by-side view of two users collaborating in a Word document. Watch how changes John Keller makes are tracked and noticed by Samantha as they work and collaborate together within the same Microsoft Word document.

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Tags: Microsoft 365, Productivity, Workplace Culture

Excel 2013 Power User for CPA's Course

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  April 29, 2015  /  Excel, KnowledgeWave Courses, KnowledgeWave News, Microsoft 365   —   No Comments ↓

Join KnowledgeWave, and our Excel expert David Thibault, for our specialized Excel 2013 Power User for CPA's. After you’ve exported data from QuickBooks to Excel what’s next? In this custom course, students will learn the advanced skills necessary to create business applications using Conditional Formatting, various Functions, Formulas and PivotTables. This is a great class for the Excel user looking to boost there skills to Power User status. This session is eligible for 7 CPE credits for Certified Public Accountants.

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Tags: Excel, KnowledgeWave Courses, KnowledgeWave News, Microsoft 365

Productivity Training in Excel: Top 5 Hacks

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  April 23, 2015  /  Excel, Productivity   —   No Comments ↓

It's no mere coincidence that Microsoft's Excel application is ubiquitous throughout the corporate, academic, industrial and nonprofit worlds, among others. Some colleges and universities have even started to offer coursework to introduce the program's benefits to its students and prepare them for life after school. If instruction in Excel wasn't one of your rites of passage, however, you may not be aware of all the tasks the application can accomplish for you in the daily course of business. 

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Tags: Excel, Productivity

What Makes a Good Presentation with PowerPoint?

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  April 14, 2015  /  PowerPoint   —   No Comments ↓

While we all know PowerPoint is a powerful tool for making useful presentations, sometimes it needs a little help. We've all sat through the duds, whether due to a lack of design, an overabundance of design or the ultimate faux pas: too much text. 

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Tags: PowerPoint

How to Cater to the Learning Styles of Digital Immigrants

Posted by Dan St. Hilaire  /  April 10, 2015  /  Training   —   No Comments ↓

In the age of technology, we are virtually connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We use technology for everything from scheduling a grocery delivery from our laptops to communicating with a loved one over a text message. Technology, in short, is a way of life. The evolution of technology and its uses, however, aren't immediately adopted by everyone. 

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Tags: Training