The vast majority of UK digital workers (90%) now use AI in their daily activities, but productivity gains are being hampered as many fight to make the technology “usable”.

That’s according to a new study from Glean’s Work AI Institute, which found that AI appears to be having a positive impact on productivity. More than three-quarters (77%) said AI is making them more productive, helping to automate tasks and saving roughly 12 hours per week on average.

Yet these AI-related productivity gains are often offset by a new trend called “botsitting,” the study found.

Many workers are left “feeding it missing context, checking its outputs, debugging its mistakes, rerunning prompts, and cleaning up the confident-but-wrong answers AI leaves behind”.

All told, workers waste around 6.4 hours per week on average making AI usable, according to Glean, equivalent to nearly a full working day.

Notably, this is a problem that’s hitting UK workers harder than their international counterparts. The study, which polled digital workers in the US, UK, and Australia, showed that Brits spend a larger share of their time botsitting on average.

Cutting corners with AI

The long-term effect of this trend could have a significant impact on broader enterprise productivity, Glean warned. Frustrated workers cut corners with the technology to get projects over the line or simply file work that’s essentially slop.

“They stop checking outputs and deliver work they can’t fully explain or defend,” the report notes.

“That’s when botsitting turns into something more dangerous: botshitting – shipping AI-generated work that workers haven’t reviewed, don’t fully understand, or couldn’t defend if asked.”

Glean noted that more than two-thirds (69%) of workers polled admitted to ‘botshitting’ at work.

The AI productivity paradox

The research from Glean marks the latest in a string of studies warning about mismatched productivity gains with AI.

As ITPro reported in April, research from Accenture found workers are reporting higher levels of output and speeding up project delivery timelines with AI.

Yet these productivity boosts aren’t reflected on a business-wide level – and a key factor lies in the fact that underlying IT infrastructure or working practices haven’t evolved to compensate for the technology.

This same phenomenon was highlighted in the Glean study, with just 18% of respondents saying AI has “significantly improved” their organization’s overall performance.

Context matters

A sharpened focus on organizational change is critical for broader productivity gains, according to Glean – and shoehorning AI into the business is a sure fire way of scuppering plans.

Indeed, the study noted that those succeeding on this front typically “start with the work, selecting tools and platforms that fit the job instead of letting vendor contracts dictate their AI strategy”.

“Leading AI organizations resist AI addition sickness: the reflex to solve every problem by buying more AI, adding more tools, or pushing people to use AI whether or not it helps,” the study noted.

This tracks with a recent survey from Gartner, which found a leading factor in failed AI projects in integrating the technology in areas that aren’t applicable.

Similarly, these leading firms “understand that giving AI access to data is not the same as giving it context”. This is a major factor in why workers are spending so much time making the technology usable, the study warned.

More than half (53%) of workers said critical information they need to do their jobs isn’t accessible through their AI systems. In “context-poor” AI environments, workers are more than three-times more likely to feel worn out by AI.

By contrast, those in “context-rich” organisations are 52% less likely to ship AI slop work, spend less time botsitting, and are 31% less likely to “botshit”.

Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work AI Institute at Glean, suggested that overcoming these challenges will require a rethink on how AI use is tracked in the enterprise.

“Too many companies are treating AI adoption like a vanity metric: more seats, more prompts, more usage,” she said. “But the UK data shows why that is not enough.

"British organizations have moved quickly to put structure around AI, and that is a real advantage,” Hinds added. “The next step is making sure AI is grounded in the right enterprise context, governed in the flow of work, and measured by whether it actually improves outcomes.”

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Only one-in-ten UK organizations have successfully deployed or scaled AI in core operations, according to new research from Accenture, with the consultancy urging IT leaders to shake up strategies to boost adoption.

Despite widespread adoption of the technology, Accenture’s Generating Impact report highlighted a “widening gap” between the basic use of the technology and its broader impact on organizational change.

Nearly one-in-five (18%) UK workers now use generative AI tools on a daily basis, the study found, marking a steep increase compared to 2024 levels.

Notably, Accenture found workers are reporting benefits from the technology, including higher-quality output levels and faster project delivery timelines.

Yet on a business-wide scale, the benefits of AI haven’t yet materialized. Only around one-quarter of employees said that a major process in their team has been "restructured around AI”.

Nearly half (46%) of executives also noted that removing AI entirely would have “no material effect on their operations at all”.

Unlocking AI productivity gains

Two key factors are at play here, according to Accenture. First and foremost, organizational change processes are “lagging behind” and AI strategies often fail to overhaul underlying IT infrastructure or working practices.

“Employees are adopting AI at the level of individual tasks, but organizations have not yet redesigned the systems and workflows around them,” the study notes.

“Only around a quarter of employees say a major process in their team has been redesigned around AI in the past year. Without that redesign, productivity gains remain localized and fail to translate into enterprise performance.”

Another issue lies in “where organizations are looking for value”, according to Accenture. Many enterprises have focused heavily on productivity as a key metric when measuring success, for example.

Similarly, executives often see cost reductions as the “greatest future benefit” of the technology rather than revenue growth. It’s here where Accenture identified a gap in expectations between workers on the ground and those in the C-suite.

“This stands in contrast to workers, who most commonly report using AI to enhance the quality of their output,” the report states.

Accenture’s findings track with recent research from KPMG, which warned that many executives view returns on investment (ROI) in purely financial terms.

Profitability, for example, was cited by 64% of respondents as a key metric when measuring ROI – underlining the demand for immediate returns and a failure to consider other factors, such as employee efficiency or quality of work.

The consultancy noted that a “shift in mindset” is needed before organizations can fully capitalize on the technology.

Similar research from Forrester this year highlighted a perception gap in terms of AI's potential benefits. The firm noted that few organizations have translated early AI innovation into meaningful business impact".

High stakes with agentic AI

With the advent of agentic AI, Accenture said enterprises have great opportunities to deliver real-world impact - providing they address broader integration challenges.

The study found nearly 82% of UK working hours could be enhanced by agents, for example.

These gains aren’t yet visible in productivity data, however, reflecting patterns seen in previous technology wave where “capability advanced faster than organizational changes”

Indeed, more than half (58%) of executives said their organisation isn’t ready to integrate agents within core enterprise systems, largely due to the complexity of legacy IT estates.

Skills are also a key hurdle for enterprises with agentic AI, with 7% of executives stating their workforce is fully prepared for agents. The appetite for reskilling and upskilling is there, though.

More than half (54%) said they have a desire to upskill in response to AI advances.

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Most companies are yet to record any AI productivity gains despite widespread adoption of the technology.

That's according to a massive survey by the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which asked 6,000 executives from a range of firms across the US, UK, Germany, and Australia how they use AI.

The study found 70% of companies actively use AI, but the picture is different among execs themselves. Among top executives – including CFOs and CEOs – a quarter don't use the technology at all, while two-thirds say they use it for 1.5 hours a week at most.

Over the last three years, nearly nine-in-ten firms said their use of AI had no impact on employment or productivity.

That damning result fits with previous research from MIT, which found 95% of AI pilots failed to deliver productivity gains, as well as a study from the Danish National Bureau of Economic Research which found little impact on productivity.

AI productivity gains are negligible

The NBER survey found that across the four countries surveyed, 69% of businesses made use of AI in some way – led by the US at 78%, the UK at 71%, Germany at 65% and Australia at 59% – with respondents predicting that figure will climb to 75% within three years.

Companies that are larger, more productive and pay better are more likely to use AI than "older firms and firms with older directors", the survey noted.

"The most commonly cited uses are ‘text generation using large language models’ followed by ‘visual content creation’ and ‘data processing using machine learning’," the survey added.

When it comes to employment savings, 90% of execs said they'd seen no impact from AI over the last three years, with 89% saying they saw no productivity boost, either.

The report noted that previous studies have found large productivity gains in specific settings – in particular customer support and writing tasks. However, other estimates on wider economic gains suggest a total factor productivity gain of 1.5 percentage points over a decade.

"Despite these large gains in specific tasks and firm values, the economy-wide productivity gains from AI are less certain," the report noted.

What's next for enterprise productivity

Despite the lack of impact to date, business leaders still predict AI will start to boost productivity and reduce the number of employees needed in the coming years.

Respondents predict a 1.4% productivity boost and 0.8% increase in output thanks to the technology over the next three years, for example.

Yet the NBER survey also reveals a "sizable gap in expectations", with senior execs saying AI would cut employment by 0.7% over the next three years — which the report said would mean 1.75 million fewer jobs.

Meanwhile, staff predict a 0.5% increase in employment over the same period thanks to AI.

White collar work will feel the impact first

The NBER study comes hot on the heels of recent comments by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, who predicted the technology will hit “white collar” work the hardest in the next few years.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Suleyman said AI will reach “human-level performance” within the next 12 to 18 months, allowing enterprises to replace workers with the technology en masse.

“I think we’re going to have a human-level performance on most if not all professional tasks,” Suleyman told the Financial Times.

“So white-collar work where you’re sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person, most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI in the next 12 to 18 months.”

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AI 'workslop' is forcing employees to work an extra four and a half hours each week to clean up mistakes, according to new research.

A survey of more than 1,100 US enterprise AI users from Zapier found that while 92% of workers say AI boosts their productivity, the average employee spends more than half a workday revising, correcting - and sometimes completely redoing - AI-generated outputs.

Three-quarters of respondents reported at least one negative consequence from low-quality AI outputs, including work rejected by stakeholders (28%), security incidents (27%), and customer complaints (25%).

Zapier noted that just 2% of respondents don’t need to revise what AI produces.

A key factor here lies in poor training, researchers noted. Employees without AI training are six times more likely to say AI makes them less productive.

While untrained workers spend less time on AI cleanup, they also report fewer productivity gains: just 69% say AI helps, compared with 94% of trained workers.

“The productivity gains from AI are real. 92% of workers feel them. But so is the cleanup work,” said Emily Mabie, senior AI automation engineer at Zapier.

“The companies seeing the best results aren't the ones avoiding AI. They're the ones who have invested in training, context, and orchestration tools that turn AI from a sloppy experiment into a managed process.”

The worst AI workslop offenders

Data analysis tops the workslop list, according to Zapier, with 55% saying data analysis and visualization projects require the most cleanup, followed by writing tasks at 46%.

Meanwhile, engineering, IT, and data roles average five hours per week fixing AI outputs, with 78% reporting negative consequences. Finance and accounting teams face the highest rate of negative consequences at 85%, averaging 4.6 hours of cleanup per week.

The time lost in fixing AI-generated outputs has a significant impact on bottom lines, according to Zapier. Workers spending more than five hours a week on AI cleanup tasks are more than twice as likely to report lost revenue, clients, or deals.

Zapier said better data quality and more robust infrastructure could go a long way in helping to improve the situation.

The study found that those with access to AI orchestration tools and comprehensive company context – so internal documentation, brand guides, project templates, or prompt libraries – said the technology does have a big positive impact on productivity.

“The solution isn’t fewer tools, it’s better infrastructure,” said Mabie. “Orchestration, training, and proper context convert AI from a vague experiment into a managed process where the extra cleanup is the cost of doing more meaningful work faster, rather than the cost of pretending you are.”

AI workslop is here to stay

The rise of AI workslop has become a recurring pain point for enterprises ramping up adoption of the technology.

A report from MIT researchers last year found that more than 40% of US-based workers had been given AI-generated content that “masquerades as good work but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task”.

This, the study noted, was destroying productivity and harming perception of the technology in the workplace.

Certain professions are experiencing acute issues with this trend, such as those working in software development. A recent study from CodeRabbit, for example, shows that AI makes 1.7 times as many mistakes as human programmers.

The use of AI in software development has been one of the leading use-cases for the technology over the last three years, with developers reporting significant productivity boosts from AI code generation.

Research from Harness in early 2025, however, found that these productivity gains are offset by the fact developers are having to drop tools and manually remediate faulty code, slowing down processes.

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Anthropic wants users to hand Claude their files and let the AI bot figure out what to do with them – but it warns that the system might choose to delete your files.

The AI developer this week unveiled Claude Cowork, which applies abilities created for Claude Code to non-coding tasks in an "approachable" way, the company said in a blog post, once users have given access to files, the wider web, or third-party data.

Tasks could include generating reports, organizing files, or creating a spreadsheet based on documents.

Anthropic said Claude Cowork was inspired by the way developers used Claude Code, the company's AI code generation tool.

"When we released Claude Code, we expected developers to use it for coding," Anthropic said. "They did – and then quickly began using it for almost everything else."

The aim, according to Anthropic, is to make it easier to put AI to work without constantly giving more context or instructions, or having to convert outputs into documents yourself.

"It feels much less like a back-and-forth and much more like leaving messages for a coworker," the company said.

What can Claude Cowork do?

Claude Cowork isn't just inspired by Claude Code, but built on the same "foundations", the company said – and that means the system will feel familiar to anyone who has already used the coding tool.

Notably, Cowork differs from the standard chatbot as it works by giving it access to a specific folder on your computer, in order to read and edit files – as well as create its own, as Anthropic has built-in skills for making presentations and other documents.

"It can, for example, re-organize your downloads by sorting and renaming each file, create a new spreadsheet with a list of expenses from a pile of screenshots, or produce a first draft of a report from your scattered notes," the company said.

Anthropic said its Claude AI will then work with "more agency" than a chatbot, and multiple tasks can be queued up at once for the system to do at the same time.

"Once you’ve set it a task, Claude will make a plan and steadily complete it, while looping you in on what it’s up to," the company said.

Beyond desktop files, Cowork can access external files by using existing connectors, and can be paired with Chrome for web access.

How to access Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork remains in research preview and is available to Claude Max subscribers.

However, the company noted that access will be limited to those on the macOS app to begin with. Anthropic said it plans to offer access to Windows users too, but exact details on a release timeline are yet to be determined.

The aim here for Anthropic is to get a sense of how people use Cowork to drive further improvements and development before a full release.

Anthropic's warning

Claude Cowork will only access files that it's been given direct access to view, and will ask for approval at key stages of a task.

Anthropic did warn that users should perhaps limit the tool's use to a single folder, and urged users to keep separate backups of the files it's been set to work on. The reasoning here is that the bot could take "potentially destructive actions" such as deleting materials.

The company said Claude would only delete a file if instructed, but added: "Since there’s always some chance that Claude might misinterpret your instructions, you should give Claude very clear guidance around things like this."

Anthropic also warned about the risk of prompt injections, an attack vector in which hackers find a way to disrupt an AI bot's legitimate task with malicious instructions.

That's a threat faced by any AI agent, the company noted, and it's a concern raised by OpenAI too.

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AI “task crafting” improves workforce motivation and productivity, new research suggests, but only providing workers are allowed to do it themselves.

Workers who redesign their roles to incorporate AI are more highly motivated and engaged with their jobs, according to a new study from researchers at tech upskilling platform Multiverse.

The survey found “employee-AI collaboration” and work engagement are highly correlated, and can deliver marked gains for companies striving for a solid return on investment (ROI).

Researchers defined AI collaboration as the extent to which the technology is embedded within core work cycles like problem-solving, drafting, and evaluation.

Notably, those who exhibit higher levels of AI adoption by this measure tend to be more dedicated and immersed in their roles, and thus score higher on employee engagement.

This positive link, Multiverse said, comes down to one key behavior: task crafting.

So what does this new work practice entail?

Task crafting and the productivity benefits

Task crafting involves taking proactive steps to alter the scope, number, or type of tasks that make up an individual worker’s role. Simply put, this involves using AI tools to reduce manual toil and free them up to focus on more important tasks.

The more task crafting a worker carries out, the greater the link between AI adoption and efficiency gains at both the individual and organizational level.

Those who engaged in less task crafting were found to be far less efficient, productive, and engaged in their roles.

“This research moves the conversation beyond AI as a tool solely for automation and efficiency. Our findings suggest AI can be a powerful job resource that directly fuels engagement - but not automatically," said Barry Goulding, organizational psychologist at Multiverse.

"The benefits are activated by giving employees agency to shape their role around AI. This means they can transform their work from a collection of demands into a series of engaging challenges."

Engaged workforces create profitable companies

According to Gallup’s latest employee engagement report, organizations scoring in the top quartile for employee engagement have 23% higher profitability, 18% higher sales, and 78% lower absenteeism than those in the bottom quartile.

"For business leaders, this is a playbook for maximising the return on their AI investments," said Laura Ball, senior director of learning science at Multiverse.

“Companies must invest in a new kind of training that equips employees with the skills to become 'AI job crafters'. That means fostering proactivity, strategic thinking, and giving them the confidence to reimagine their roles - rather than using AI to create 'slop' at greater speed than ever."

This isn’t the first study to highlight the link between AI and employee engagement. A similar report from Deloitte last year found using the technology to simplify and make jobs easier for employees can boost satisfaction and improve engagement.

"The focus for many organizations has shifted from mere AI adoption and process automation to maximising its potential for transformative business outcomes, empowering employees, and unlocking societal opportunities," the report stated.

"In a recent global Deloitte survey, only a small minority - 30% - of organizations expressed a strong preference for automating as many tasks as possible. This shift in perspective highlights how AI is increasingly seen as a tool to handle repetitive tasks, freeing up time for employees to focus on what matters most."

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Workers are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the “always on” culture at their jobs, and are calling for formal periods of “digital silence”.

That’s according to research from Twilio, which found staff are pushing employers to allocate periods free from notifications and emails.

The study, based on a survey of more than 1,200 UK-based workers, found nearly half (47%) are prioritizing protected times in their daily workflow that are free from distractions, email chains, and calls.

A key factor behind this pushback comes from the myriad of messaging platforms and communications solutions workers use in their daily lives, according to Twilio.

Sam Richardson, director of executive engagement for EMEA and APJ at Twilio, said while these tools have transformed how workers connect and collaborate, they can hamper productivity by bogging workers down.

“As digital tools become increasingly embedded in our everyday routines, digital downtime may be the answer to combatting the “always on” environment that’s impeding productivity, creating pressure, and damaging workplace culture,” she said.

Overworked and overwhelmed

According to Twilio, 40% of respondents noted that email and chat notifications disrupt their ability to get work done, with employees frequently dragged onto new tasks.

This was highest among workers aged 51-55, according to Twilio, with 50% of senior employees reporting disruptions in their workflows.

Along with disruptions, workers also feel they have to appear visible in their daily work routines, an issue exacerbated by the use of workplace collaboration platforms.

More than one-third (38%) said they feel “pressure to be constantly online” and immediately respond to messages and emails during work hours. This trend was most prevalent among workers aged 26-30 years old, according to Twilio, cited by 47% of those in that age group.

Richardson said this highlights the need for more balance and a measured approach to digital workplace tools. Ultimately, these are intended to support and drive productivity, not hamper it.

“The goal of technology should unlock productivity, not create distractions. If businesses want to attract and retain the best talent to build for the future, they need to take heed of what workers are telling them,” she said.

“That means designing digital experiences that support people, helping them stay focused, feel empowered, and thrive, both at work and beyond.”

This isn’t the first study into the impact of digital platforms on worker productivity in recent years.

Indeed, Unily’s Digital Noise Impact report in June 2024 showed workers across a range of industries were facing “ping fatigue” due to the volume of notifications they receive on a daily basis.

Respondents to the survey revealed they are disturbed at least once every half hour on a daily basis, while roughly one-third are disturbed every 15 minutes by messages on collaboration platforms.

Social batteries are running on fumes

The idea of “digital downtime” or “digital silence” to combat these issues is growing among workers across all age groups.

Workers aged 36-40 were the most eager to see these practices put in place, Twilio found, while 18-25 year olds were among the least enthusiastic.

Notably, nearly half (44%) said they’d be more likely to work for a company that regularly offers these perks.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Twilio’s research also showed that the preferred days for scheduled digital downtime were Fridays, cited by 44%. This is largely due to the fact workers are clearing their feet of tasks before the weekend.

Mondays were also highlighted by 29% of respondents as a day where digital silence would be ideal, enabling them to focus on crucial tasks at the beginning of their working week.

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Slack’s 2023 State of Work report revealed that performative working – the appearance of being productive but producing minimal value – has become widespread in business. Although the underlying causes of performative working differ, the result of diminished productivity remains.

The report was based on a survey, carried out by Qualtrics, of 18,149 workers ranging from c-suite executives and presidents through to middle management and desk workers, and took in a cross section of several different geographies and verticals. It showed that employees spend 32% of their time doing performative work that gives them the appearance of being productive. It was further noted that respondents claimed 43% of their meetings could be eliminated without any adverse consequences.

Performative working is not a recent phenomenon. “We've always had it,” says Alchemy Labs founder Alastair Gill. “You would see people twenty-years ago running up and down the corridors with a phone next to their heads and loads of papers under their arm, going from meeting to meeting.”

However, just as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated remote and hybrid working, so too has it changed other aspects of modern business. Meetings used to be in-person, but now people can join using video conferencing tools. Post-Covid, there has tended to be an increase in the number of emails that people are copied into, as people working from home seek to remind colleagues of what they are working on.

“We probably would have been at this point in ten years’ time, just because we've been talking about working from home for donkey’s years,” says Gill. “It’s only since Covid and all the tech companies building a lot of collaborative tools, which has really accelerated this culture of performative work.”

Michael Vincent, managing director of Strategic Goal Management Consulting, has similar feelings. “During Covid people were wanting to be seen,” he says. “They wanted to arrange meetings to show they were doing work, but they were meetings that were not required, or going to meetings where that individual doesn't need to attend.”

Nonetheless, there are a variety of other potential drivers contributing to performative working, and the exact causes differ between organizations.

Fear can be a common factor driving performative working; economic uncertainty and the rise of AI, both of which could imperil thousands of jobs, are common causes of anxiety currently. Employees who are fearful of losing their jobs will often want to be seen to be working to prove their worth. Therefore, they ensure that they are noticed by the executives, rather than focusing on the objectives of their roles.

The notifications employees are often bombarded with, especially when they are using multiple communication tools can also lead to performative working. For example, an employee could be distracted from their task by an email notification, causing them to lose their focus and instead turn their attention to replying to an email that could have waited.

Overly deferential employees, who wish to be seen by the executives in order to validate their work may also be more inclined to engage in performative work. These people may seek to remain in close proximity to the CEO, if they associate familiarity with promotion.

Moving from performative to productive working practices

Whilst the drivers behind performative working may differ, the result tends to be employees striving for greater visibility for themselves. 

Visibility as an indicator of productivity stems from a more traditional view of work, where rows of desks filled with employees was seen as an indication of high productivity. This mentality was reinforced in 2022 when Jacob Rees-Mogg called for civil servants to return to their offices.

Unfortunately, the old-fashioned connection between productivity and visibility is not compatible with modern, post-pandemic, technology-enabled ways of working. With employees working remotely, there needs to be a greater emphasis on productivity being measured by employees meeting strategic business objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), rather than the number of hours they sit in an office.

Meetings, both online and in-person, should only be held when necessary and only attended by those who need to be there. One way to control this is to mandate that all invitations must have an agenda and state the purpose and objectives of the meeting. Notes summarizing what was discussed can be placed in a collaborative working hub, so they can be seen by any interested parties, preventing lots of people being copied into meeting invitations ‘for information only’.

Tighter controls of system notifications and their timings can also help to prevent distraction and the associated loss of focus when working.

Although it may be tempting to install employee surveillance measures as a means of measuring productivity, these can have mixed results. They can measure how active someone is at their computer, but are incredibly invasive, leading to questions about employee privacy. It also demonstrates a lack of trust by the leadership, which in turn can result in the lack of trust being reciprocated by the employees. Also, these only tackle the symptoms of performative working, rather than addressing the drivers.

It’s better to investigate the root causes of performative working and take steps to internally address them, whilst reinforcing how productivity is measured by employees meeting objectives that advance the overall organizational strategy.

This needs to be management led, communicating to employees the need for meeting strategic objectives and restricting meeting attendance to only those who should be there. Naturally, with a distributed workforce due to remote or hybrid working, there needs to be a clear and consistent message shared that reinforces this focus on productive workflows.

“It’s like a long-distance relationship; you've got to work a bit harder at it and be a little bit clearer, because you're not picking up all those clues from people in the office, that body language is more of an asynchronous relationship,” says Gill.

Performative working may look productive, but in reality it doesn’t help and can hinder employees in doing valuable work. Identifying and examining the root causes of this behavior – whether it’s anxiety, misunderstanding what’s wanted from them or something else – is the first step to eliminating it and encouraging a truly productive workforce.

Software developers have said that having time blocked out in their workday to complete work in solitude would lead to greater collaboration throughout their teams.

A GitHub survey of more than 500 developers at US-based organizations found that implementing this daily process will give developers the “time and space to write code and work towards team goals”. 

It concluded that providing designated periods to focus on work without distractions or disruptive activities would foster a stronger collaborative environment due to the “holistic view of collaboration”. 

“It’s defined not only by talking and meeting with others, but also by uninterrupted work time, access to fully configured developer environments, and formal mentor-mentee relationships,” the report said. 

What does effective collaboration look like for devs?

In its survey, GitHub found that developers work with an average of 21 others on a typical project. Similarly, more than half (52%) reported working with other teams on a daily or weekly basis. 

The need to collaborate effectively with distributed teams and staff means that developers view “regular touchpoints” with colleagues as the most effective factor for better collaboration. 

“Developers view regular touchpoints with colleagues across asynchronous channels, documentation, and well-run team meetings as critical to successful collaboration,” the report said. 

These findings align with previous research conducted by GitHub on developer productivity needs. 

Frequent communication via chat applications, documentation, and pull requests was found to improve the “flow and discoverability” of information.

“This leads to better coordination and awareness of team member activities and task priorities. Regular touchpoints can also help align and focus teams to work on the right problems, leading to better solutions and stronger business impact.”

Effective collaboration improves code quality

Fostering closer collaboration across development teams resulted in improved code quality in the long term, GitHub found. 

50% of respondents said heightened collaboration delivered improved test coverage while 47% noted “cleaner” code writing as a key advantage of improved collaboration. 

Similarly, in terms of productivity and speed of development, better collaboration also delivered significant improvements. 

Nearly half (49%) of developers said faster code writing came as a result while 41% revealed they were able to ship code faster. 

“This shows that when developers work effectively with others, they believe they build better and more secure software,” the report read. 

AI and developer productivity

The integration of generative AI tools within a developer’s toolbox was highlighted as a key trend by GitHub, which pioneered the technology with its Copilot AI pair programmer, with the report stating that these tools are now playing a significant role in enhancing individual and team performance. 

An overwhelming majority (92%) of developers said they now use an AI coding tool at their work, or in their personal time. Nearly three-quarters (70%), said they see “significant benefits” to using these tools.

Developers revealed that AI-based tools can help them meet existing performance requirements and deliver improved code quality, faster output of code generation, and reduce the number of production-level incidents. 

Increasingly, developers also believe that these metrics should be used to measure performance beyond code quality. 

Collaboration is also being improved through the integration of AI coding tools, according to GitHub. 

The survey found that 81% of developers believe coding tools will help increase collaboration within their specific teams, but also across the broader organization. 

Staff at companies adopting generative AI tools are 90% more likely to report higher levels of productivity, according to new research. 

The State of Work report from Slack, which polled more than 18,000 desk workers globally, found that staff are increasingly receptive to generative AI tools being adopted in their workplace. 

More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents said that being able to automate routine tasks, such as expense report approvals, would drastically improve their productivity. 

The study revealed that those who currently use automation in the workplace estimate that they save an average of 3.6 hours per week. 

This equates to around a month each year saved due to improved productivity due to automation, the report noted. 

Brent Hyder, president and chief people officer at Salesforce said the study highlights the growing appetite among staff for the use of generative AI tools and automation of daily tasks. 

“The workplace is continuously evolving, and never more so than in the past few years. Companies must rethink the employee experience to increase productivity today,” he said.  

“Organizations that embrace new ways of working, such as flexibility, automation and AI, and collaboration tools will help their employees - and ultimately their customers - find greater success.”

The launch of the report coincides with Slack’s  announcement that it plans to implement a new “conversational AI experience” in its workplace productivity suite to support staff. 

Slack GPT will provide users with native AI features, including the ability to use generative AI app integrations as well as the chance to access secure customer data insights from the Customer 360 and Data Cloud functions. 

“Working with Einstein GPT, Slack GPT will unlock the power of CRM and conversational data to help everyone in the organization be more productive,” the company said in an announcement this week. 

Companies not keeping pace with AI demand

While employees appear increasingly receptive to generative AI, Slack’s report suggested that some companies are failing to keep pace with the demand for such tools. 

Nearly two-thirds (60%) of respondents said their company has not incorporated any AI tools to support productivity while just under half (43%) said their team has “not created automations to make their work processes easier or more efficient”.

“AI and automation are on everyone’s minds in 2023. Yet it is crystal clear from this research that most organizations are barely scratching the surface of their productivity value in daily work,” said Rob Seaman, senior vice president of enterprise product at Slack. 

“Automation can save employees up to an entire working month per year, freeing up their time for more meaningful, impactful work. There’s a huge opportunity for organizations to help employees work smarter, more efficiently, and more pleasantly.”

Business appetite for AI is growing

The publication of Slack’s report follows recent insight from Gartner which suggested business appetite for generative AI tools is growing as companies look to capitalize on recent developments in the space. 

Research from the consultancy firm revealed that 45% of business leaders have increased AI investments on the back of publicity around ChatGPT and its potential benefits for organizations. 

Nearly three-quarters (70%) of executives also said their organization is currently in “investigation and exploration mode” with regard to the implementation of generative AI. 

Just under one-fifth (19%) also said they are in pilot or production mode and plan to integrate generative AI tools in organizational processes. 

Frances Karamouzis, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, said the research highlights the growing interest in the potential benefits that generative AI could deliver for businesses in the long term. 

“The generative AI frenzy shows no signs of abating,” she said.  

“Organizations are scrambling to determine how much cash to pour into generative AI solutions, which products are worth the investment, when to get started, and how to mitigate the risks that come with this emerging technology.” 

ITPro Network bullish on generative AI

Earlier this week, members of the ITPro Network revealed that their organizations are also currently integrating or exploring the use of generative AI tools in their business. 

Mark Evans, IT director at Tillia Homes, told ITPro that he has been using ChatGPT extensively in daily operations and has harnessed the powerful chatbot to generate PowerShell scripts and finetune Excel formulae. 

Evans noted that ChatGPT has enabled him to “work smarter, not harder”. 

David Cartwright, CISO at Santander International, also sung ChatGPT’s praises when speaking to ITPro, revealing that the tool has proved so useful that he signed up to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus subscription service. 

Cartwright has been using ChatGPT to support a variety of processes, such as writing job descriptions for roles that Santander is seeking to fill. 

Microsoft has integrated its AI technology into the entirety of the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, with businesses set to experience significant time savings with meetings.

Named 365 Copilot, the AI helper is being added across the Office apps and can cut down time spent writing up meeting notes, combing through inboxes, and drafting talking points.

Copilot was repeatedly branded a “time saver” during a livestreamed demonstration. It can prepare notes and talking points for upcoming client meetings, draft documents in Word, analyse and visualise dense Excel spreadsheets, and pick out key emails from a busy inbox.

Among the most notable features was Copilot's ability to prepare documents ahead of meetings. It works by reading data from across the 365 suite to provide recommended reading and upcoming deadlines with which staff can familiarise themselves ahead of time.

Copilot’s Business Chat feature can also take data from meeting minutes, emails, calendars, and chats to provide a summary of interactions with a specific individual, complete with containing citations and contact cards on key customers.

The AI tool is also capable of summarising events in a live meeting, giving commentary on how a group feels about the contents so far, and providing suggestions on talking points that still need to be touched on.

As a call comes to a close, Copilot can generate a list of next steps saveable directly into the user’s chosen Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

For further improvements to productivity, this relationship goes both ways as Copilot can draw on CRM records to contextualise emails, meeting plans, and other automatically generated communications.

Microsoft Copilot 365: Email integration

Copilot harnesses user context to cut down time spent manually drawing together data or processing information, even in tasks that have rarely been automated in the past. An example of this is the tool’s email ‘catchup’ feature, which rounds up emails it has identified as particularly urgent.

“We all struggle with the pull of the inbox,” said Sumit Chauhan, CVP of the Office product group at Microsoft.

“Sometimes it keeps us from focusing on our most important work. But at the same time, you do have important emails to respond to. Copilot separates the signal from the noise and gives you hours of time back. Copilot can help you triage your inbox, highlighting the most important emails to prioritise.”

Copilot will also be available on the Outlook app, and can also summarise long email threads, and convert documents such as a sales spreadsheet into digestible texts and graphs within the email client. All text generated in this manner is fully-editable, and users can change the tone or brevity of emails with one click.

Microsoft Copilot 365: Smart documents

Selecting and converting documents is a core function of Copilot, and Microsoft singled out its ability to helpfully draw data from across a range of locations in real time as one reason the AI tool could entirely change the way people work.

Copilot is powered by a processing and orchestration engine it is calling ‘The Copilot System’, which combines 365 apps, Microsoft Graph, and a dedicated large language model (LLM).

Microsoft Graph is the API developer platform for Microsoft 365 - it comprises content and context from files, chats, calendar, and emails. Microsoft stated that Copilot draws on all of this to ensure that results are as relevant and contextualised to each business as possible, and that the process is carried out in a secure way to preserve privacy and maintain compliance.

The firm also specified that Copilot uses GPT-4, OpenAI’s powerful multimodal model announced this week, for the LLM portion of the ‘Copilot System’. The LLM trained on a “large but limited” amount of a business’ data, and the firm stressed that tenant data and prompts are not used for training purposes.

In bringing together apps, content, and context from across a customer's suite, Microsoft has set its sights on full intelligent automation of tasks.

This is reflected in the shared name scheme of its recent AI productivity announcements, with GitHub Copilot, 'AI copilot' for Edge, and now Microsoft 365 Copilot cementing the degree to which the company is set on making helpful AI a brand experience rather than limiting it to a particular software.

Microsoft Copilot 365: Extra time-saving powers

The cross-discipline time-saving power of Copilot was also emphasised in a demonstration showing how it can make Microsoft’s Power Automate more accessible.

Users can request an automated workflow using natural language and Copilot will produce a diagram to explain the workflow and allow user edits.

Microsoft showed an example in which a developer requested Power Automate to create a private Teams channel whenever a specific customer sent an urgent support ticket.

After its initial summary of the proposed workflow, Copilot was able to take feedback from the developer and ensure that when the event was triggered. Copilot should also summarise the support ticket and tag relevant departments that can help.

"Although people may initially resist the idea of using AI, the ability to do things like summarise long documents and prioritise your email inbox will be an absolute godsend for most people struggling to cope with the ever-increasing volume of information we have to get through every day,” said Dr Andrew Rogoyski, director of innovation and partnerships at the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI.

"Writers, copyrighters, screenwriters, and journalists will have to integrate these new tools if they want to match the productivity of their competitors.

"My guess is that the next step will be for Microsoft and others to offer enterprise bolt-ons to Copilot that incorporates all the corporate knowledge in a particular company, thus allowing customised versions of Copilot to provide bespoke help to individual companies.

"This is yet another blow for Google as companies who have invested in the Google Workspace, which grew massively during the pandemic as users shifted to the cloud, may be asking themselves if they backed the right horse."

OpenAI has announced the release of GPT-4, the successor to its popular GPT-3 and 3.5 models, and has promised “human-level performance” in a more creative and stable package than ever before.

The new multimodal model can accept both text and images as input, and was stated to be more creative, reliable, and nuanced than its predecessor. It has been shown to process documents, photos, and charts at a similar level to text input and unpick complex context and tone from user inputs.

OpenAI showed that GPT-4 can reliably identify and caption objects in images, and use these as input context, in a number of examples. These include processing information from a chart, translating and solving a French exam question, and identifying what is wrong or humorous in a given image.

In a livestreamed demonstration of GPT-4, president and co-founder of OpenAI Greg Brockman used the model to translate a photo of a sketch he had made of a website into working HTML code.

GPT-4 also offers major accuracy and stability increases relative to GPT-3 and GPT-3.5 results, having scored in the top 10% of test-takers in a simulated bar exam while GPT-3.5 scored in the bottom 10%. In its blog post on the release, OpenAI stated the model has shown “human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks”.

https://twitter.com/DrJimFan/status/1635694095460102145

The new model can process longer documents than ever before, with accepted strings exceeding 25,000 words, and has enabled the long-form analysis and aggregation of entire web pages.

In controlled tests, it was also able to complete extensive multiple choice questions in 26 languages, at a comprehension and accuracy level higher than that of GPT-3.5's English output.

This could dramatically improve document automation and customer-facing interactions, as well as the aggregation and translation of foreign-language dark web posts by security companies.

The road to GPT-4

Achieving these results required OpenAI to redesign its deep learning stack from scratch, while Microsoft’s partnership and $10 billion investment helped the firm establish a supercomputer to facilitate a stable training process for the vast model.

The work has also helped set GPT-4 apart from the models that came before it, both in complexity and reliability.

“On first review, GPT-4 does seem like an important advancement over GPT-3,” Bern Elliot, research vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, told IT Pro.

“Much of it is very new and so it will take some time to really understand where and how its improvements over GPT-3 will be realised. The first feature that leapt out to me was multimodal capabilities of GPT-4, where the inputs can be both text and images. This offers a range of new use cases. For instance, in visualising information or in identifying and describing content.

“A second capability that stood out was the more advanced multilingual abilities – its improved ability to handle inputs in languages beyond English. In the press release, they state that in 24 of 26 languages tested, GPT-4 outperforms the English-language performance of GPT-3.5. I spoke with a bank in Thailand this week that was struggling with how to leverage ChatGPT in Thai, this feature capabilities may allow them to do this.”

Elliot also highlighted the improvements to model steerability, which could help firms to customise user experiences, and the reduction of overly-confident lies or ‘hallucinations’ in GPT-4 compared to previous models.

Hallucinations are a growing issue with generative AI, with firms fighting to maintain creativity in models without encouraging them to invent information when real facts are necessary.

“As stated above, it will take time to fully understand the use cases where GPT-4 will excel," Elliot said.

"However, as indicated in the above functions, there are clearly some business uses that this version can address that were not addressable by GPT-3. There is also the overall improved capabilities of this more advanced model. While that may not make a difference for all, for demanding use cases this may be important.”

OpenAI has been clear that the model is not without its limitations. Like its predecessor, the majority of data used to train GPT-4 is from before September 2021 limiting the scope of its knowledge, and cannot learn knowledge through repeated exposure.

The developers enlisted the help of 50 IT experts to adversarially test the model and report its weaknesses in order to reduce unwanted outputs seen in GPT-3.5 such as lies and potentially harmful content.

“We spent six months making GPT-4 safer and more aligned,” OpenAI stated on the GPT-4’s product page.

“GPT-4 is 82% less likely to respond to requests for disallowed content and 40% more likely to produce factual responses than GPT-3.5 on our internal evaluations.”

Subscribers to OpenAI’s paid tier, ChatGPT Plus, have access to GPT-4 as of now, while those seeking ChatGPT API access to GPT-4 have been asked to join a waitlist. OpenAI stated that select developers are being given access to the API as the firm scales capacity for GPT-4.

OpenAI also revealed that it is making Evals, the software framework used to evaluate large models such as GPT-4, open source. Those that submit “high quality” evaluations of OpenAI models through Evals run a chance of receiving GPT-4 API access, in an incentive that will help OpenAI rapidly collect data on the performance and quality of its products.

GPT-4 will cost $0.03 (£0.025) per thousand prompt tokens up to an 8,000 token limit, and $0.05 (£0.049) per thousand up to a 32,000 token limit.

In response to the announcement, Microsoft has revealed that its Bing chatbot, which has helped drive the search engine’s daily traffic above 100 million users for the first time, has been running on GPT-4 all along.

“If you’ve used the new Bing preview at any time in the last five weeks, you’ve already experienced an early version of this powerful model,” wrote Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president and consumer chief marketing officer, at Microsoft.

OpenAI has also revealed a number of partner companies that have already adopted GPT-4 into their stacks.

Financial services firm Stripe has used GPT-4 to summarise websites of potential clients, read and explain complex documentation, and detect fraudsters through syntactic analysis.

Morgan Stanley has found GPT-4 an ideal foundation for its internal chatbot that can draw together the sum knowledge of the firm from across its content library including PDFs. The technology has also been implemented as a virtual assistant in Danish app Be My Eyes, which normally pairs blind or low-vision users with volunteers over video calls.

From having described the contents of a fridge and recommending a suitable recipe to successfully having guided a user through a railway journey step-by-step, the model has demonstrated a clear ability at processing visual input. Be My Eyes is currently OpenAI’s only partner for image inputs, with a wider release on the horizon.

The UK's six-month trial examining a four-day working week has yielded positive results, with 92% of firms choosing to retain the structure.

Among the most notable improvements across the companies involved in the trial were better staff health, overall happiness, and increased productivity.

The results showed a clear improvement in employee working conditions before and after the trial was implemented. Burnout fell by 71% and sick days by 65%, with almost half of the employees having reported a reduction in fatigue.

Companies also marked a reduction in churn, with a 57% drop in staff resignations across the trial compared to a comparison period of equal length.

The vast majority of employees indicated that they preferred the four-day schedule, and 15% stated that no amount of money could convince them to return to a five-day week.

60% of respondents also indicated that they were more able to combine their work and care responsibilities under a four-day week, while 62% said they could balance their work and social lives better. Revenue in participating companies remained largely unchanged, rising 1.4% on an average weighted by company size.

“This is a major breakthrough moment for the movement towards a four-day working week,” said Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign

“Across a wide variety of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that the four-day week with no loss of pay really works. Surely the time has now come to begin rolling it out across the country.”

The study was the world’s largest looking at four-day working weeks and gathered results from 61 companies and more than 2,900 workers around the UK. 56 of these firms have chosen to continue with the work structure, with 18 confirming this is a permanent change.

Different types of companies took part in the trial across a range of sectors including financial and tech services, online retail, telecommunications, and food and beverage.

The trial also included a range of company sizes and strategies, to demonstrate the effects of the 32-hour week on as wide a pool of employees as possible.

The UK's four-day week trial in full

The trial, which began in June 2022 and ran until December of the same year, was run by progressive research organisation Autonomy in collaboration with 4 Day Week Global, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign, Boston College, and the University of Cambridge.

The full methodology and in-depth trial results were published by Autonomy in a paper, which also includes anonymised testimonies from business leaders.

The trial ran on the agreement that companies would pay employees 100% of their pay, for 80% of their time, and for 100% of their productivity. The majority of companies sought to implement the change to their working week with no reduction in output, and interviewed workers indicated that the loss of one day per week was its own incentive to work harder on the remaining four.

Some companies made employees sign agreements to maintain their productivity as a condition of the change, and brought in new methods such as holding meetings less regularly, automating some processes, and using new IT management software.

Autonomy reported that only two of the companies interviewed had taken to further recruitment to maintain productivity alongside their four-day week.

At the halfway point of the trial in September, 95% of participating organisations said productivity had maintained or improved. In 2019 Microsoft ran a four-day week trial in its Japan offices, and saw a subsequent 40% rise in productivity.

The trial accounted for a range of different four-day week structures, so long as pay remained at 100%. This allowed the four-day week to be adopted by companies across a range of industries and company cultures.

These included ‘fifth-day stoppage’ in which companies would cease operations for one day per week, a staggered approach in which two or more groups of staff took alternating days off, and a decentralised model in which the week structure varied by department.

Some companies that operate seasonally also worked the four-day week as an annualised average of 32 hours per week, in which staff worked longer opening hours during the ‘on’ season and shorter hours in the ‘off’ season with no loss of pay.

A small number of technology companies are already accredited with the 4 Day Week campaign, and more could follow in the wake of the successful results. Flexible work has long been a touted benefit of working in the tech industry.

Unlike other benefits, the four-day week could weather economic hardship, as employers actually stand to save money if the scheme is properly implemented.

It has been suggested that workers coming into an office for one fewer day per week could slash businesses’ energy bills, and if implemented on a widespread basis could reduce carbon emissions produced by commuters.

“The method of this pilot allowed our researchers to go beyond surveys and look in detail at how the companies were making things work on the ground,” said Dr David Frayne, research associate at the University of Cambridge.

“We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits. We think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a try”.

IT departments, which have long faced difficulties trying to recruit skilled talent, are now facing an additional challenge as many businesses put a freeze on hiring in the face of economic instability and look to use existing resources as efficiently as possible. With this goal in mind, it’s important to enable employees to be productive, while not leaving them overworked.

Improperly organised work stacks, insufficient collaboration and a failure to adapt to changing work environments are all factors that can negatively impact productivity, and must be tackled from the planning stage to allow workplaces to thrive.

In this episode, Jane and Rory speak to Christian Lund, co-founder at productivity tech firm Templafy, to unpack concerns around productivity in the current landscape and how automation and AI can help to solve these problems.

Highlights

“I think where AI comes in extremely handy … are these more complex areas where you really need to think, and compile, and put together a lot of different information incredibly fast.”

“Let's make sure that people do their real jobs. And hopefully, they will do those jobs a lot better, and have all the support from AI and other stuff to get them to get them to where they need to be.”

“You could use [automation] for saving costs, or you can use it for growing your business. And right now, I think businesses are really looking to invest in this because it is something that helps them save cost.”

Read the full transcript here.

Footnotes

• 95% of organisations involved in the UK’s four-day working week trial say productivity has maintained or improved
• What is Robotic Process Automation?
• Nine best productivity apps to optimise your workflow
• AI is now powerful enough to automate the back office
• What are the pros and cons of AI?
• What is generative artificial intelligence (AI)?
• What is ChatGPT and what does it mean for businesses?
• Email is killing productivity, new research finds
• The best Microsoft Office alternatives: Free, paid, and online mobile office suites

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This automatically-generated transcript is taken from the IT Pro Podcast episode ‘Boosting productivity in the IT department'. We apologise for any errors.

Rory Bathgate

Hi, I'm Rory Bathgate.

Jane McCallion

And I'm Jane McCallion.

Rory

And you're listening to the IT Pro Podcast, where today we're talking about productivity. As the skill shortage continues to bite into IT departments, every business looks to use its resources as efficiently as possible and empower employees to be as productive as possible while not leaving them overworked.

Jane

Improperly organised work stacks, insufficient collaboration and a failure to adapt to changing work environments are all factors that can impact productivity. Today we’re speaking with Christian Lund, co-founder at productivity tech firm Templafy, to discuss the main concerns around productivity in the current landscape and the role that automation and AI can play in alleviating some of these problems. Christian, thanks for being on the show.

Christian Lund

Thanks a lot for having me.

Rory

So just to start with a broad question, how can we measure productivity?

Christian

Well, you can measure productivity, especially in time. How much time is being spent, how much time goes into productivity? And also, there is also a relativity to it to some extent, because it also measures against “how else could you be using that time that you're spending on doing a particular part of work”. So I would say those are probably the two, the two main ones. It then translates into a lot of other things like revenue, for example, which is maybe the most important for many businesses.

Rory

I think when a lot of businesses are looking at quantifying productivity, there's quite a few threads that can be pulled in those areas. Right now we're looking at a skill shortage and workers are perhaps having to ramp up their productivity to make up for absences in a company. With that in mind, how can an IT decision maker look to assess productivity in their team to maybe alleviate those concerns down the line?

Christian

Well I think the first thing that people do in businesses in general, and certainly in IT as well, is to look at the actual tasks that requires to be done inside of a business, and then try to figure out from that perspective the types of resources that is required to go into that. I think that's probably a starting point. And to your point, right now what we're seeing a lot is that you're really trying to see how much, how well you can spend your use your resources, also both from a people perspective, and also from a technology perspective, and really find the right balance between the two. Because oftentimes, what technology does is that it supports the productivity that, you know, it adds to the productivity, that the productivity, it adds to the productivity capabilities of people.

Jane

So I guess, do productivity and efficiency sort of go hand in hand if we're talking about use of time, I guess, as well as outcomes?

Christian

I think you're pointing to the right area there. Because productivity, as I said before, is very much oftentimes put directly in connection with time. It's a place where you can save time, or as efficiency oftentimes takes it a little bit further. What you do with that time, then translates into something else, for example, revenue. So it's more outcome focused. And I think that's really the difference. One of the differences between the two, that the efficiency piece really have a big look at not only how fast it was to do it, but also how well it works once you've done it. And what technology can do as well, again, is to oftentimes combine those two things really well.

Jane

So the IT industry and IT departments have, as Rory mentioned, faced all kinds of skill shortages recently. Can using technology, can increase in productivity, patch those holes or is it an 'as well as' rather than an 'instead of' filling those roles,

Christian

You know, to add to the productivity in essence, what it does when you add productivity, more productivity to your work, is that it allows you to essentially spend your brain better. So if you're a knowledge worker, for example, all the stuff that you have to go through that takes time, that you can then do more with higher productivity, actually adds efficiency to that pool. So in that sense, I think definitely yes. Because you allow you really allow to allocate the resources in a better place. And with knowledge workers especially, instead of having them to do you having them do tedious jobs or things that can be automated, or that way you can add productivity to it with technology, you can allow them to focus on on more relevant things that are actually focused more on efficiency. So I think the answer is yes.

Rory

So looking at productivity, breaking it down into as you've been saying, individual areas that can be done better, you're talking about breaking it up into drain on, drain on finances but also drain on time. Is productivity as much of a workspace problem as it is a worker problem?

Christian

Well, I think it can be, as well with a workspace, I think it comes on the other hand in, you know, in two forms, because you could argue that depending on on your workspace, and my understanding of that is where you actually work, where you physically go to work, how that how that influences you? Well, on one hand, that can be like very positive for productivity, I think, because it oftentimes come comes with a lot of energy and there is extra things you can get from that, that kind of actually ends up with you being more productive. There's also faster ways to get to information because you have your people right there, and things like that. So there's that side to it. But there's obviously also the other side to it, that having to go to work, you also get into chatty situations with people, you end up sometimes spending a little bit of time that you shouldn't have, of course you need to do the commute to even get there, and so on. So it kind of comes, it kind of goes both ways. But either way, I would say if that is done well or not, technology can still play a pretty big role in terms of supporting you in the way that you that you work and collaborate with your co workers also inside of a workspace.

Jane

Can we expand on that a little bit more in terms of, we've sort of danced around a little bit, what sort of technologies are we talking about when it comes to increasing productivity?

Christian

Well, I guess that again depends very much on the type of work that you do. But I can tell you sort of the example from the world that I come from, and which is very much focused on knowledge workers. So one particular thing that people if your knowledge workers do, if your knowledge worker do a lot, is to document your work through documents. That's kind of what they're for. So the way that knowledge workers can do that is really only that, because they don't have buildings to show, or furniture to show. They need to document their work through documents. And that is perhaps one of those areas that, you know, time is just being spent so much like in pretty much all knowledge worker areas that is producing documents is one of those areas where companies are really looking to add productivity to their work. So they don't have to spend so much time on undoing that piece, and they can do more of their real job, which is typically not actually doing documents. It's kind of a prerequisite to to document what they do.

Jane

And when you speak about knowledge workers, does this include the IT department?

Christian

Yeah, it does include the IT department as well. But actually the IT department, oftentimes in knowledge worker industries, is also serving as a good decision maker for providing the right tools and technologies, obviously, for the people that they co-work with. So they're kind of doubled, because they also of course need to do this type of work. But they also need to consider how they can support and help the organisations with the best possible technology for them to be more productive and ultimately also efficient. So it kind of plays both ways, in that piece, too. But some of those good technologies that are out there for productivity and efficiency, for certain also has a lot of productivity pieces built into them that helps the administration, that helps IT for deployment and updating, and things like that there are done well.

Rory

So when we're talking about these specific technologies that are used to increase productivity, are we primarily talking about automating workflows, are we talking about consolidating stacks into a maybe a more of a collaborative space? What specific changes are we talking about in regards to increasing productivity?

Christian

Yes, I think you're hitting on some of those, the two ones that are that are really important, because one are the ones that actually do and go in and actually support you with being more productive. Like, for example, tools that will automate the way that you build up business documents, or you build out quotes or you have other types of processes that you need to go through where automation plays a big role and really helps the end user focus on other things than going through those tedious tasks, and focus on on what they're actually hired for. And then at the same time, there's the consolidation piece where in order for that to work, oftentimes, many technologies need to work together. Because going through processes where you, for example, piece together a business document, you would oftentimes need to combine different types of data from different sources to piece that together on that canvas that ultimately is the output that you're looking to do. And in order to do that, of course, as an IT person you would need to make the right decisions in terms of combining those technologies in the best way to make sure that the end result is as productive and efficient as possible for the business.

Jane

And you know, Rory mentioned automation there. Is there a role to play for AI within this? I know it's everybody's favourite buzzword.

Christian

There is, obviously there is a very strong role for AI to play around these, you know, around productivity in general because it's what it does. I mean, automation, if you look back sort of in history, the first piece of automation were kind of people not having to use their hands so much, because these machines could take over and automate a lot of that work. And that is really what is travelling into the brains now where, with AI obviously, where the automation that frees up brainpower to do other stuff, as I've said a couple of times now. So there's a lot of opportunity for that to happen. And we see obviously now with OpenAI, ChatGPT and other services coming out. That is, it's moving super fast forward. And I think the new discussion then is, what can it be used for and where are the limitations that you really need to consider in terms of how to apply this best, not the least in in a business or an enterprise context where there are other things to consider as well. And on that note, it's oftentimes a combination. Because using the example as I've used a couple of times now, with the business document, what that ultimately is is a combination between different stakeholders that you need to serve for. There is the security part that needs to make sure that it follows the, you know, regulations and compliance standards of the company, there is a brand new piece that you take into account. And there is then all the rest that actually builds the business document. And the rest is then oftentimes a combination between very structured data that you have inside of your CRM system like Salesforce or similar, and then all the information that lives on the intranet, which is where really ChatGPT comes in. And ultimately, it's a combination of all those things to make it work. So AI alone, at least as it is today, will not take you all the way at least in a business context. It helps you with all the information that is available out there, unless you have like a very specifically trained model that only focuses on a certain area. But ChatGPT for example, unbelievable capacity in terms of supporting people with all the extra things in the, I would say the 'bespoke stuff' that goes into, for example, a business document can be super helpful. But all the very structured part, it can't really touch because it sits behind very strong walls inside of the business. So it's really about finding that right balance between exactly how can we apply this in the best possible way to support people being more productive all the way through. But the potential, obviously enormous.

Jane

I've got to say that if I put myself in the shoes of a technologist, while AI is quite exciting and it does definitely have a place it's already running in some places quite, quite helpfully and usefully, it seems quite expensive. So are AI systems, I guess when you think about a return on investment type idea, is it actually something at this point that is mature enough and good value for money enough that it's actually worth IT decision makers thinking about spending their budget on?

Christian

Well, it's difficult to be black and white on that in my opinion, because for some areas yes, it is very strong. And it's also not necessarily super expensive. It depends on how much you can leverage what exists already, like we've seen more recently with some of those technologies coming out that are more open source. But if it's worthwhile or not, or if it pays well, on the return on investment calculation, it really needs to go into the specifics on what you need to use it for. And I think one thing that oftentimes happens, I've seen many times in my career, is that you need to consider, you need to figure out what you're trying to achieve first, and then figure out if AI is the right thing for you to do it. Because there's also a tendency for that to become like a thing on its own. And it's not really necessarily super relevant, there might be other ways where you can automate a lot of things in maybe more structured ways that does not require AI, but will still take you to the end goal a lot faster and a lot, lot cheaper. So it's really about figuring out how to how to apply those things. I think where AI comes in extremely handy and will in the future, are these more complex areas where you really need to think, and compile, and put together a lot of different information incredibly fast and pieced together, and something that makes reason like we've seen with ChatGPT being a very good example of being unbelievably capable of. That is where I think it's really strong, but many of, I would say the more normal automation tasks that companies are looking at, there are many other ways than just AI to support those and to get to the same types of efficiency and productivity gains.

Rory

Something that strikes me when we're talking about large language models such as, I mean you've named ChatGPT as one example is that we're discussing them in the context of productivity, rather than say, end-to-end automation or worker replacement. So on this point of identifying the specific areas where maybe AI would be required versus where it wouldn't be required, are you envisioning more of a collaborative approach in the future where specific AI tools are used alongside human workers, rather than replacing them entirely? More of a productivity boost, rather than just a pure output boost?

Christian

Yes, I think definitely that it will be collaborative. And there are certainly, you know, certain industries or types of roles that are more exposed to these types of things than others, obviously. But in general I think that's the case, yes, that it requires still a very strong involvement of people from any of those things. And again, if you look at one role as an example could be like a seller, that goes out and sells a product. That person would, of course, still be incredibly important in the interaction with that person on the other side it is, that's kind of how those things work. But all the stuff that goes into enabling that person to be where that person needs to be, and how this person can improve and understand better which areas to improve in and so on, there are many ways that can support that person in getting better and ultimately allowing that person to do more of what that person is supposed to be doing, which is selling and not, for example, doing quotes and proposals and other stuff that kind of falls into into becoming like a successful successful salesperson, as well. So I think that the combination is really strong, but there are certainly areas where industries, we need to consider what to do also, with the people capacity that they will have in the future, the brain capacity that they would need to think about how to use in a better way.

Jane

Yeah, I guess it kind of strikes me when we talk about technologies like this, that computers didn't put typists out of work, they put typewriters out of work, and cars put horses out of work. The people tend to stick around at least for a while, while things change. Is that how it's likely to be with AI do you think?

Christian

Yes, it is. But it's also slightly different, because there is another type of... it is called artificial intelligence for a reason. So it kind of it adds an extra layer to that. On the other hand, we know as well that, at least for now, we're kind of always a little bit ahead. So it looks back on the language models, for example, that were mentioned earlier earlier here in this show that the they are looking at things that were available to a certain point in time. And it's combining that with good information that kind of gets you to here, but there is still kind of, you know, it's it's hard to get into the forward thinking kind of thing. And being ahead of the game, that's kind of the the advantage of the human right now. But let's see how that how that changes over time. It is going to be interesting to follow, but for now I think what it does really is that it opens up unbelievable opportunity for headspace, to use headspace better, because it frees up that. It takes away all the stuff that you wouldn't really be having to think about or do that others can do, so you can think about the stuff that it can't think about, and start doing more of that. And that's back to the point of let's make sure that people do their real jobs. And hopefully, they will do those jobs a lot better, and have all the support from AI and other stuff to get them to get them to where they need to be.

Rory

There's a report that was recently released, that was looking at concerns of IT decision makers, of CIOs, CTOs. And in that it was noted that a major effect on productivity is just being had by the fact that currently people are having to do the jobs of two people in their role. They're having to out up fires where normally they would be working effectively. So we can, you know, we can talk around some of the tech aspects, but also to go back to what we were saying in the introduction about the skill shortage it's clear that the skill shortages is having a profound effect on productivity. Do you think that some of the technology that we've talked about has the potential to help maybe less skilled workers become more productive, and help fill these roles as well as help people in existing roles become more productive.

Christian

Well maybe. I think what's more interesting is the other way around, that more skilled people can grasp over more areas, to put it in that way. So the skills shortage coming in as like, "I need to fill out two people's jobs". But, you know, the the other way to look at that is that where automation and technology can play in is to make those jobs easier to do in terms of the cumbersomeness that goes into it, and make it more like at least for some areas, like thinking jobs. Which means that you can widen out the bandwidth, essentially, of the most skilled people you have. So I think it kind of goes, you know, plays both ways. But being also a business person, I think it's it's attractive that you can use the skills of your best people more, make sure that they spread across bigger areas, because they typically have the best understanding as well of what you're trying to do. So it also goes in that direction, but for sure everybody will be will be lifted with better technology. Yes.

Jane

I suppose one of the ways I think that I've heard it described before is that technology or any kind of automation takes over the dangerous and dirty jobs, but also the kind of tedious bits of kind of manually filling out an Excel spreadsheet - other spreadsheet platforms are available - or, you know, that kind of thing that is time consuming, but doesn't really do very much and also makes you bored.

Christian

Yes exactly, I think that is where that is one of the biggest areas where you would see AI and automation excel. And we're seeing that already, right now with those exact things. Because it's information workers, typically highly paid information workers that are put into positions where they need to do tedious jobs, like the ones you just said. Filling out Excel spreadsheets, or building out business documents, piecing together things that require their time, but it's not really what adds value to what they're trying to do. So that's why there's so much focus on really, how can we eliminate the work that goes into that piece of creating documents? Again, documents are not going away you still need to document the work that has been done. But it's just that you don't have to do it, and I think that movement is really going on right now, on getting rid of all the stuff that automation could do for you so you can do your real job.

Rory

On the point of making specific processes more efficient, specific processes more productive in the hands of individuals. Where's the line drawn between a process that you can look at and say, "okay, this requires a more efficient individual input" - whether that's by automation, or you're giving an individual templates that they can they can work with - And those that require more of a centralised approach. So those that you need to step back and say, "okay, the problem here is the workflow", or "the problem here is the stack that this is situated in". Is there a specific line you can draw between those two? Or does that really vary depending on the company?

Christian

Well, I think there is, and it's kind of... if it's when you, before we spoke about what's the difference between productivity and efficiency. And the other side to this that might come in here is also risk. And once you kind of add a risk layer to it, that's where it becomes very, something that you typically look at from a centralised perspective, its governance and risks. Yes, we want people to be productive, but we cannot do it at the cost of risk. So we cannot put more risk upon ourselves by doing these things. And that is where it oftentimes goes into this centralised, very governing perspective of doing that. Whereas the more you go into the productivity and efficiency area, it tends to get closer and closer to the almost the end user, that needs to do do more with what they have today. So we definitely see that distinction. And for example, I mentioned before how if you have like 80 million documents produced every year in a company, one thing is that part of those documents need to serve for proposals and ended up being like deals with signatures on. A lot of them do a lot of other stuff, but all of them need to follow certain standards. You know, you cannot have things that were from an information security perspective, that does not like live up to the standards of your company, and you lose information into the wrong hands and things like that. You need to have that governance layer while you think about productivity at the same time. So this is the example of just the document piece, but I think that goes in a more generic layer as well. The ability to combine those things and the need and request from the business to be more productive, to be more efficient, and to balance that out with also making sure that you have control. And you avoid risk and do that in the same time. That is, those are typically very interesting discussions. And I think the best technologies out there, you know, cover exactly that. That goes both ways, do not leave anyone outside, but make sure that yes we can provide productivity efficiency, but we do it while you also have the opportunity to govern what you need to do well,

Jane

It looks like we are going into a recession and whatever is happening, whether it's that or through inflation, or a bit of both IT departments are having their budget squeezed. Can automation perhaps help IT departments, companies as a whole, use their resources and money more effectively even if it means an initial outlay?

Christian

Short answer is yes, I think the change that is happening with this, and again, we've been touching upon efficiency, productivity against each other, I think efficiency has been really strong. With the whole uptake that we saw over the past quite a few years now. Because it was so driven towards, you know, outcome and in many businesses growth and those types of areas. Whereas productivity is something that also plays in really well when you need to, you know, obviously have a better look at or a stronger look at your cost to make sure that you really are diligent in terms of how you spend your money. So I think it's trending towards that, back again now towards being more focused on the productivity side. How can we save time and be more efficient with the resources that we have, rather than doing something that helps us, you know, optimise for efficiency and growth towards for example selling more. So the good thing about this area is that it kind of plays both ways. You could use it for saving costs, or you can use it for growing your business. And right now, I think businesses are really looking to invest in this because it is something that helps them save cost.

Jane

Well, unfortunately, that's all we have time for this week. But thank you once again Christian for coming on the show.

Christian

Thanks. Thanks again for having me.

Rory

As always, you can find links to all of the topics we've spoken about today in the show notes and even more on our website at itpro.co.uk.

Jane

You can also follow us on social media, as well as subscribe to our daily newsletter. Don't forget to subscribe to the IT Pro Podcast wherever you find podcasts. And if you're enjoying the show, why not tell a friend or colleague about us?

Rory

We'll be back next week with more from the world of IT, but until then, goodbye.

Jane

Bye.

Google Docs users will soon be able to seamlessly paste code into their documents, with the addition of ‘code blocks’ to the text editor’s smart canvas range of tools.

Through the new feature, users will be able to paste code to industry standards in a range of programming languages. Currently, the blocks support C/C++, Java, JavaScript, and Python.

The feature could prove useful for teams of developers, particularly those who have to regularly share their code with colleagues, either in a presentation setting or over video conferencing.

Before now, users seeking to paste code into Google Docs had limited options. It is possible to manually format code in Docs, as users who have set their documents to automatically detect text markup can type ``` and press ‘enter’ to manually type code (or paste it in with no formatting), and there are a number of third-party extensions and add-ons to perform this function.

However, manual editing can prove tricky and not a consistent process across even the most popular languages as it requires manual indentation and colouration of text that even a programmer may have to double-check, as this is performed automatically in any integrated developer environment (IDE).

Furthermore, employees using a company-issued laptop may not be able to add extensions to their Google Workspace; third-party add-ons could be viewed with suspicion by administrators.

Once rolled out, users can access the feature by selecting Insert then Building Blocks then Code Block. With an integrated solution for the problem, businesses will no longer have to rely on third-party solutions, and can benefit from future updates to the feature down the line such as the addition of more programming languages.

In a blog post on the new feature, Google noted that it will only be available for those with “Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers, and Nonprofit” accounts.

This means that at present, there are no plans to provide it to users with the cheaper business, enterprise, and educational accounts, nor for legacy and personal accounts.

Building blocks were added as part of a wider suite of features added over the course of 2022, as the firm looked to bulk up the features of its smart canvas. These included the addition of more integrated tools with ‘@-mentions’, including a new email draft template to allow for collaborative crafting of important messages, as well as a chip for importing notes from a meeting within a user’s Google calendar.

Organisations that have their Google accounts signed up for Rapid Release, the company’s fast track programme for new features, will receive the update between 14 December and 29 December.

However, as Rapid Release can lessen the ability for organisation administrators to oversee new features before they are rolled out to their workforce, many businesses operate on Google’s Scheduled Release track, which typically lags behind Rapid Release by around one week.

For those in this category, Google has pencilled in 3 January as the release date, though has noted that it could take until 18 January until all users can access the feature.

IT Pro has approached Google for comment.

Google has released Simple ML, a tool to help apply machine learning to data prediction and sorting tasks within Google Sheets.

Available as an add-on, the tool is intended to be stress-free to install and use, while powerful in its potential applications. Using a sheet with at least two columns, users can quickly train and refine a machine learning model to their own needs, opening up possibilities for automation across a company’s existing Google Workspace.

The tool is intended to enable enhanced activity in Sheets for both beginners and advanced users. It can be used for tasks like predicting how long maintenance could take based on past data, or spotting potential fraud when analysing unusual data in a client's finances.

By default, the tool is shipped with two functions: ‘predict missing values’ and ‘spot abnormal values’. For more complex use, it can even predict values within large data sets - Google gave the example of researchers using Simple ML to predict a person’s age based on their DNA in a molecular ageing study.

Simple ML was made by the same developers as TensorFlow, and is pre-trained to be as effective at processing data as possible. Despite the complicated nature of ML algorithms, and to combat the intense learning curve traditionally associated with training and deploying a machine learning (ML) model, the tool can be used on a fully no-code basis.

Nevertheless, advanced users that are already familiar with training machine learning models still seek to benefit from Simple ML, which allows for detailed evaluation of models to understand the quality of models that they have trained using the tool.

Models are broken down into a number of metrics, depending on the way the model was originally trained, and demonstrated through data and graphical representations.

Google recommends using Simple ML on sheets which contain columns with at least 20 values, though 100 is the recommended number for a model to really start training with accuracy.

Depending on the complexity of the task, far more may be required, and when a task cannot be completed, a detailed error message indicates what has prevented the model from running as intended.

A key benefit of the service, as cited by Google, is the fact that it runs entirely in a browser, so all sensitive data that could be included on a Sheet remains secure.

In addition, ML models are saved directly to Google Drive in their own folder, enabling them to be shared between a team in a business environment or downloaded for backup should they be crucial to new business processes.

In a blog post on the release, Google outlined the ease of use by listing the three steps necessary: opening the data; selecting the task that suits the use case, such as identifying anomalous data; running the model and seeing the results, which are weighted by probability.

On a technical level, Simple ML utilises decision forests - a group of randomly-generated decision trees governed by a machine learning algorithm to output predictive results.

Google announced the update at the annual Women in ML Symposium, an online event held by the firm to promote an inclusive community within the field. Simple ML is available right now in beta.

Every now and then, you may be asked – if you were to start a new job tomorrow – what’s the one piece of IT equipment you would want to be given? I’d probably answer that I’d want a 3:2 4K monitor that can pivot into portrait mode; so much of my work is done in multiple windows that my current 24in screen isn’t cutting it anymore.

Well, life moves fast. At the time of writing, I’ve got a 27in Quad HD, rotatable monitor sitting on my desk and, well, I kinda hate it.

Life was simple with my 24in Full HD screen. You could just about work on two documents side by side and everything scaled nicely. Things aren’t quite as peachy with those three extra inches. The bump in resolution to 2,560 x 1,440 is problematic. Yes, I’ve got more screen acreage to play with, but icons are tiny and text is often hard to read.

I’ve fiddled around with macOS’s scaling options, but I can’t get it right. If you drop down to 2,048 x 1,152 things look blurry; if you scale back to Full HD, everything looks out of proportion, like you’re sitting too close to the TV.

Some apps – and I stress the word ‘some’ – help you work around the small icons or text problem. I can scale both the user interface (UI) and the window of the brilliant Vivaldi browser independently, so everything is just the right size. Microsoft Word lets me easily zoom the page too, so I can read what I’m writing without pressing my nose to the glass.

Others refuse to be as accommodating. My email app, Spark, has no scaling options, making certain messages as hard to read as a Will Self novel. Likewise my calendar app, Cron, so don’t expect me at any press conferences for a while. Photoshop does have a modicum of UI scaling, although it doesn’t warn you that you need to restart Photoshop for it to take effect. Consequently, I spent ten minutes screaming “you haven’t done anything!” at my king-size screen before a YouTube video bailed me out.

I have a Windows 11 system connected to the monitor, too, and things are a little better there. The OS-level scaling options are equally ineffective, and the same small text/icon issues arise with certain apps, mainly those from smaller developers. I now spend my day craning my neck back and forth from the screen, depending on which app I’m using. I’m 98.6% certain you won’t find this recommended in any workplace health and safety manuals.

There are, of course, upsides to the big screen experience. It’s definitely easier to work with two, or even three, app windows side-by-side on the bigger screen. Windows 11 users may also see the new update gives it a major advantage over macOS now, because of the ease with which you can snap windows into fixed layouts. I had to download a third-party app (Magnet) to snap windows in macOS and it’s nowhere near as simple as it is in Windows.

As for the dream of effortlessly flipping the screen into portrait mode and working on my lengthy treatises without having to constantly scroll up and down? Well, that proved to be a washout. Firstly, the design of my desk makes rotating the screen all but impossible, not least because I normally have my MacBook Pro screen open beneath the monitor. Even if I bought a new desk, though, and shuffled the laptop to the side, it’s still no cakewalk to flip the monitor into portrait mode because of the power and display cables sprouting out of the back of the screen. You need a fair bit of slack in those cables to make rotating painless, which means juggling plugs under the desk and praying you don’t accidentally yank a display cable out in the process.

The moral of this tale? Be careful what you wish for. I’ll keep looking for apps that offer proper scaling and keep tweaking my desk setup to see if I can make things more comfortable, but shifting to a bigger screen has created as many problems as it’s solved. The assumption that bigger is better has proven to be woefully misguided. Like a politician offering excuses following a major cockup, I truly didn’t appreciate the scale of the problem.

Windows 11, like many operating systems of the present and past, has a habit of hiding the good stuff. When it comes to productivity, it’s often easier to search the web for something you assume must exist, rather than it being a matter of the user interface (UI) organically pointing you in the direction of said feature.

Many businesses, and professionals alike, will be mulling over whether it's worth upgrading to Windows 11. Alongside a swathe of exciting features that have arrived with Windows 11, what might push users over the edge are a handful of useful tips and tricks that may be slightly difficult to stumble on, but that can ramp up your productivity if you successfully tap into them.

Custom snapshots

There are multiple ways to take a snapshot in Windows 11, but perhaps the most versatile is the snipping tool. Rather than using the 'Print Screen' button, which takes an image of the entire screen and requires pasting into another programme, click Windows + Shift + S.

Your screen will darken and four options will appear, all denoting a different way to select the image you want to capture. Once you decide between rectangle, freeform, window, or full screen, you can then select what you’d like to capture and save it through the snipping tool window that will open once you click on the notification on the right-hand side of your screen.

Know your keyboard shortcuts

There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts embedded into Windows 11, and while you could go full productivity guru and have an entire keyboard dedicated to Windows 11 macros – like some video editors – it’s perhaps more practical to memorise the ones you use most often.

For many professionals, that means using combinations like Windows + the number that corresponds to the order of the shortcuts in your taskbar. Some of the most useful include pressing Windows + I to open your settings, and Windows + U to open accessibility options. Here’s a more complete list of shortcuts as curated by Microsoft itself.

Turn on window shake

We could make a joke about hiding what you’re doing from shoulder surfers, but this window shake trick will be really useful in letting you focus on just one window at a time, minimising everything else on your screen.

While you can set all of the items on your screen to skedaddle by using Windows + M, activating the window shake function allows you to move a window back and forth to make it the only thing on your screen. Although this setting isn’t enabled by default, you can enable it by opening Settings, scrolling down on the right-hand side to the multitasking area, and toggling window shake to on.

Customise your quick settings

We all have those tools that we return to again and again. For many, they might be Network settings, Bluetooth devices, Focus mode indicator, and Audio settings. To look at this handy menu, click on the bottom right-hand of your screen, next to the date and time.

From there, you can add different options, including Airplane mode and Keyboard inputs. You can also go straight from this smaller menu to the broader settings area by clicking the corresponding gear icon.

Rename your audio sources

It may seem simple, but actually knowing which audio source you’re plugged into, rather than the generic name of your monitor or headphones, can really help shifting from deep quiet work to a broader presentation.

There are, after all, many times when you might be using multiple audio sources over the course of the day – such as your laptop, headphones, external monitor, and bluetooth speakers – which might cause confusion when logging into, say, a video conferencing meeting and encountering audio issues. First, go to Settings, then Sound, before selecting the little arrow next to the device you want to change.

There are multiple options here, from changing the quality of audio you’re sending to your headphones to enabling spatial sound, but renaming your device is as simple as clicking the Rename button just below your device icon.

Voice typing

Microsoft isn’t a stranger to voice recognition technology. For one, it acquired Nuance – the makers of the Dragon Naturally Speaking software – in 2021. Voice typing, which was once known as dictation, can be used as both an accessibility tool as well as a way to speed up your workflow.

To activate voice typing, press Windows + H and then click on the little mic icon in the window that appears. You will hear a small bleep to indicate the programme is listening. Privacy-wise, you can choose whether or not to send voice clips to the window and you can also choose whether the software automatically provides punctuation for you.

Expanding the Start menu

Sometimes referred to as ‘the secret Start Menu’, if you right click on the Windows icon, a simple menu will appear that allows you to do things like go straight to your power options, open PowerShell, or task manager, without having to click through multiple menus. You can also access this feature by pressing Windows + X.

Show file types

There are many times in every person’s journey they encounter a mishmash of different files with confusing, clashing names, created using a variety of software, ranging from Microsoft Word to Adobe InDesign. Knowing which type of file you’re looking for can be helpful, as it can be for Windows 11’s file explorer to tell you. To enable this, click on the View tab, scroll down to Show, then click on File name extensions. No matter the view you’re using, you’ll be able to tell what file type something is.

Activate accessibility settings

Rather than picking out just one accessibility feature, let’s look at the entire menu. To access it, open up your settings window and scroll down the list on the left-hand side. There, third from the bottom you’ll see the universal symbol for accessibility in tech: a little humanoid.

Click on that menu and you will see a plethora of options. You can do things like change the text size on your screen, enable eye tracking if that’s a need for you, and also change your screen’s contrast and colour filters.

Bind the Snippet tool to Print Screen

Many of the hidden Windows 11 tips and tricks centre around accessibility, and with good reason, but there’s one particular setting that’s invaluable regardless of whether these settings are normally part of your workflow. By clicking the toggle named ‘Use the Print screen button to open screen snipping’ you can make saving those screenshots just a little bit easier.

Snap Groups

As the demands on our time have gotten more intense, and our screen real estate has expanded to match, wrangling the items that clutter our digital workspaces can be complicated.

With Windows 11 you can snap windows to various layouts by hovering over the window icon in your top right. Once you’ve snapped those windows, they also appear as a snap group in your bottom bar. Segmenting your work in this way can allow you to quickly change how your screen appears depending on your tasks and workflow.

Meta has announced a new ‘Communities’ feature for WhatsApp, allowing for group chats to be organised together under an umbrella group.

With Communities, WhatsApp states that groups such as workplaces can bring up to 50 disparate group chats together under umbrella categories such as departments or office locations. Unlike Facebook groups, WhatsApp communities will be invite-only.

For added functionality, community administrators will be able to send community-wide announcements, run community-wide polls, and manage messages within group chats.

This will allow for a hierarchical structure, in which group chats are run by individual managers with only certain individuals within an organisation given control over entire communities.

WhatsApp is one of the most widely-used messaging apps worldwide and has a wide business userbase. Around 400 million people are believed to use WhatsApp in India, where the app is also widely used for communication between companies and customers as well as for internal company communications.

Communities will primarily benefit internal communications, in practice acting like productivity apps such as Slack or Teams. The update adds to this by expanding video calls to include 32 participants, and increasing group chat sizes fourfold from a maximum of 256 to 1,024 participants, both of which benefit large teams.

However, it will still lack a number of features such as shared document editing, integrated automation, and plugins that such apps provide. Despite this, as WhatsApp is free it remains a useful option for communication amongst small and medium-sized businesses.

WhatsApp Business, a separate app from WhatsApp LLC, allows businesses to engage directly with customers manually and through basic automation, as well as advertise catalogues within the app.

CRM specialist Salesforce and WhatsApp partnered recently to offer firms a unified commerce and marketing platform within WhatsApp, with the ability to bring customers into a chat through adverts on Facebook, and use data to target audiences.

A key feature of WhatsApp chats is that they are end-to-end encrypted (E2EE), giving an added layer of privacy to all messages sent on the app. Businesses might find this especially attractive, as it offers a layer of security for sensitive business information.

This is not without controversy, with the UK government largely opposed to E2EE despite two-thirds of IT professionals saying banning E2EE would do more harm than good. The currently stalled Online Safety Bill, proposed under former home secretary Priti Patel, would override E2EE by legally compelling companies operating messaging apps to scan for child abuse imagery.

Although WhatsApp is frequently applied in the private sector, its use by public servants such as MPs has drawn the attention of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). In July, the ICO called for a review of the government's WhatsApp use, stating that frequent use of the app for official channels could breach transparency and accountability requirements.

Meta remains not only committed to retaining WhatsApp encryption, but also eventually rolling out E2EE to Messenger and Instagram as well.

The new features are expected to be rolled out imminently worldwide, on both WhatsApp mobile and desktop.

IT Pro has approached WhatsApp for comment.

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This automatically-generated transcript is taken from the IT Pro Podcast episode ‘The power of smart ports'. To listen to the full episode, click here. We apologise for any errors.

Rory Bathgate

Hello, I’m Rory Bathgate

Bobby Hellard

And I’m Bobby Hellard

Rory

And you’re listening to the IT Pro Podcast. The internet of things can leave firms feeling all at sea — which is why this week, our first port of call is smart ports.

Bobby

Using the newfound speed of 5G networks, and more sophisticated local networks than ever before, a number of smart port trials are ongoing worldwide. By tracking movements of cranes, crates and transport equipment, metrics such as operational speed and maintenance needs can be tracked in near real-time to inform management decisions and use of resources.

Rory

In today’s challenging economy, and with the looming climate crisis, it’s essential that the supply chain can be maintained at low cost, and with as little carbon footprint as possible — all this could be leveraged through smart ports.

Bobby

With logistics hubs and technology largely failing to keep pace, it is more important than ever that IoT devices, image recognition and connectivity is used to improve efficiency. Joining the show this week to discuss all things smart ports is Andrew Quinton, Senior Manager/Principal Architect of 5G solutions at BT.

Rory

Andrew, it’s a pleasure to have you on the show.

Andrew Quinton

Thank you for having me.

Rory

So I had the pleasure of hearing you talk at Connected Britain 2022, and just right off the bat: at the conference, you said that some ports are completely disjointed in the UK. Could you give a brief overview of the kind of supply chain issues that ports and logistics hubs are currently facing?

Andrew

Yeah absolutely. I think it's important to know a lot of ports are managed as independent businesses. They’re not a government organisation, they're not run by central groups of the handful of key operators. And what we see is a lot of the ports themselves operate in their own ecosystems, but they engage with much wider economies and much wider operators beyond their gates and their fences. So, whether it's the ships and the boats, and the maritime agencies coming in, or whether it's the freight forwarders and the trucks going in and out, or just the cargo and who that cargo belongs to, and where it’s destined for. They're all independent islands and silos operating within a port environment. So it can feel, with these different organisations and different agencies, quite disjointed at times from a technology perspective.

Rory

So on that point, are smart ports a matter of improving existing systems, or is it a case of identifying where systems that don't currently exist could be implemented?

Andrew

Yeah, I think it's a bit of both actually Rory. I mean at the end of the day, smart ports and ports themselves are widely important. At the end of the day, close to something like 95% of all of our trade goes through our ports in Britain. So there is a lot of cargo with a lot of items, there's a lot of people that travel through our ports on a daily basis. I think when it comes to technology, we need a slightly more modernised view. I think you know, the vast majority of ports, 80% of ports continue to operate your manual legacy solutions, they’ve got a lot of old equipment, and these are critical maritime services. And so, what we've seen over the last, I'd say the last two or three years, and certainly with the pandemic as well, we've seen projects and programs perhaps five years, five years in the making have been shortened down to just months. So a real acceleration of transformation and technical strategies with imports environments themselves. And we've seen this with an absolute shift, to things like connectivity, and 5G, IoT, like you said at the start of the session, that's the start. I think ports themselves can do things at start themselves, and the middle, but longer term we've got to start seeing how technology and the advancement of port operations expands to other organisations. What I mean by that is, if you're a freight forwarder, or a maritime ship operator, when your assets, your trucks, your boats, your ships, when you arrive at a smart port, or a port 4.0, how do your systems interact? At the minute, it’s kind of clipboard and paper-based trails. So how do those systems interact, and how can what freight forwarders and cargo operators do interact with the smart port environment. And how can a smart port environment cater for those different environments, different businesses, different ways of working? So we do see that as a challenge. But as I say, we are seeing a lot of traction with ports around the UK. There is a real desire from within port operators and businesses to modernise, and really focus on, I think three things: they're looking for efficiencies clearly, you know, in a competitive environment and it's an increasingly competitive environment. Efficiencies are always important. I think transparency, and transparency can be two things, that could be data transparency. So just starting to understand how the port operates. What's coming in? What's coming out? How long are the cranes running for? Everything from energy consumption to where the people are deployed, to really understand data and make data let decisions. But also things as well, transparency of things, transparency of assets, transparency of cargo containers, people as products, all of that is really important. But also on top of that, people areas like health and safety and the colleague environment. That's the third thing, that's really important to smart ports, that they're trying to address in parallel to those two other areas

Bobby

So, AI computer vision has been singled out by BT as a technology with the potential to revolutionise smart ports and transport hubs. What is it about image recognition that makes it so useful within smart ports?

Andrew

Well, that's a really good question. So, you know, digital vision from BT is an area of computer vision that I hold close to my heart. I've spent the last 12 to 18 months working with computer vision operators, and starting to really look at how AI-enabled video can help a variety of different industries with smart ports especially. When it comes to computer vision there are almost two ends of the spectrum. There's a people, and traffic kind of spectrum. And this could be ranging from very basic, very important, things like health and safety, PPE compliance. Yeah, that sort of thing, is really, really important to ports, for the safety of people on them. It could be traffic. We've seen examples of course in the Middle East that have deployed AI-enabled video to start to understand traffic profiles across their site, because what they found is traffic built up at certain points of the day, certain directions, and that was having a knock on effect. So ships were being delayed from being unloaded successfully, and a whole host of issues can start to start to occur with those very sort of basic issues, such as traffic. So people and traffic, that one end of the spectrum, but it goes right across to the other end of the spectrum when we start to look at objects, whether that's villagers, whether that's water quality, whether that's… we're looking at things like drones, and being able to inspect cranes. We've seen some examples with turbines, where drones can inspect the quality and look for fractures and issues around objects on turbines. It can be a whole range of different active different areas. We're also seeing examples with OCR technology, and checking on cargo containers and just tracking the whereabouts. We've seen ports where they're unloading containers from RORO ferries, and they're having to store them, and that's quite an intensive area for them because it takes a lot of land, and land’s a vital asset of any port. So being able to effectively stack cargo containers, or trailers with containers, and being able to understand and locate them quickly using things like OCR technology is really important. So AI across that spectrum, from people, to traffic, right across the objects to check out damage. All of that is, you know, super important and what we see as a real big potential use case for digital vision, for computer vision, in a smart port environment.

Rory

That's really interesting. It sounds like especially with OCR what we're seeing here, is a technology that can be implemented to allow vision over things like crates, without having to then have the suppliers adopt that technology as well. Especially if you're reading characters on the side of, a container for example, you don't need things like trackers on every container. So, do you think that solutions like computer vision can improve the supply chain from end-to-end with minimal footprint?

Andrew

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it takes a bit of sort of, pan supply chain adoption and things, but I think giving people visibility — I talked about transparency earlier — giving people transparency of where their assets are, where their containers are. Obviously, you know, there are drawbacks, and then, you know, a lot of containers have seen better days, it's not always easy to read them, but there are specialist AI organisations, that can help with that and looking at OCR containers. So it's not foolproof by any stretch, but it starts to build that picture, starts to give that level of transparency and visibility at key points. And I think, just taking that a step further, we talk a lot about transparency of where your assets are. So whether it's containers, or pallets, or just items you’ve ordered in the post, that’s been around for quite a while now, if you order something online it can probably tell you it's three stops away. So understanding where assets are across the supply chain isn’t a huge advancement. And there are still improvements to be made, absolutely, but where our thinking is at the moment is, actually how do we take that the next step further and start thinking about secure supply chain, and the impact on my business? What I mean by that is: if I know that I got a shipping container, and it’s just arrived at one of the UK ports, that's great/ I know my containers are there, I know my objects are there. But actually, if I need them to be on the M4, or on the M1, or in my warehouse by now, because they’re running late, I need to understand what the knock-on effect is to my organisation and my business. Have I got stock? Do I need to source something short-term? So it’s starting to take that supply chain visibility, starting at ports, but then really focusing on how it can impact your business, and actually having that all within the cloud, within an AI-enabled system to provide business with that information that allows them to make meaningful decisions and quickly. That's, a big step forward where we see supply chain visibility and asset transparency going.

Bobby

So, how would that work with other companies that are waiting for their goods to come across? Because they would need to be able to access that system, wouldn’t they?

Andrew

No absolutely, a lot of this, a lot of this hangs on organisations being willing to come together and share data. And the first step as we talked about, is getting that data off of paper, off that clipboard. I was at a port recently, and it's a fantastic environment, you know, and it's always on the go. But it starts off with trucks arriving at the gate, and there's a chap on the gate who writes down the registration number, gives them a little ticket, and tells them where to go. And actually, one of the most expensive elements of that isn't actually the chap handing out the tickets, actually the pieces of paper and the triplicate books that you used to be able to get, they're really hard to come by apparently. But actually just having, you know, thousands of pages of these little bits of paper being handed out every year, I mean, you can see where things like ANPR systems with computer vision can help direct traffic with digital signage. You can see straight away where there's, there's opportunities there to improve and allow that chap then to be, you know, positioned elsewhere. There is a skill shortage right? There is a shortage of people, this is not about displacing people, this is about using technology to augment the staff and resources that we've got to really make that difference. But any technology at any start has to be shared across multiple organisations, with the data as well, it's going to be vital. And I think that's probably one of the bigger hurdles we’re going to come across. But then we are starting to see advancements with freeports, and we are starting to see organisations come together in circles of trust. And it's really interesting to see how technology can start to support those environments, where you see multiple organisations, including the government, whether it’s HMRC or the relevant agencies start to share data across these environments. So there’s definitely a desire, there's definitely a start, and I think we’ll start to see more and more of that continue.

Rory

Fantastic. So, more generally, do you think the UK is in a place right now where the network can support, let's say, a plethora of smart ports, smart hubs, or is more 5G infrastructure needed first?

Andrew

Yeah, it's a really interesting question. I think when you're talking about the environment that we're seeing in ports, where you've got a lot of metal things, whether it's areas where containers are stored, whether it's cranes. Hey, guess what? Those things that float in on the ocean are made of metal too, so there's quite a lot of metal in those environments right? So, actually, whereas public 5G, and public cellular connectivity could play its part, what we’re seeing actually is a real desire to focus on 5G private networks, and genuine 5G standalone networks. And I think then, when you plan and design them effectively, you will start to see the benefits of 5G in a port environment that perhaps on its own, the public cellular network couldn’t really do on its own. It's also important to note as well, that no two ports are the same. And there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for ports. We've seen that, you know, automating container ports, with sensors and crane management, that's a very different proposition to cruise ship terminals and ferry terminals, where perhaps you need more high speed Wi-Fi, and public cellular connectivity for video calls and general consumer conversations. But there are 5G applications as well: for example, we've seen at ferry terminals and cruise ports where you know, hundreds of pallets of supplies are loaded, there's barcode scanning. There's a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with data, 5G has a part to play there as well. But definitely no, no ‘one size fits all’ for a port environment when it comes to private 5G. But planned effectively, it is a really, really fantastic technology to put in a smart port. And we’re seeing some really great examples. Port of Tyne recently is going through a transformation now, with us, with private 5G. And they see the 5G network as a real opportunity for a test bed, and innovation platform for organisations to come and start to test what they hope is the sort of next wave of technology. To utilise all the good stuff that comes with 5G, you know, well-documented things around the high bandwidth, the lower latency, but there's more exciting things to come with 5G. We've only really hit the tip of the iceberg.

Bobby

Before long, you'll have 6G to work with.

Andrew

Absolutely, yes. Let's figure out 5G first. Yeah, I do see. You know, I do see a lot of commentary around 6G as well, and Wi-Fi, and all that good stuff. But yeah I think 5G, certainly private networks especially, we’re just starting to see the benefits of them, and actually there are a lot of exciting things that we can do today. And that's the other thing: 5G, private 5G, it's unlocking really exciting technologies today. You know, I've seen examples of augmented reality, I've spoken to a number of operators of AGVs, you know, automatic guided vehicles. A real acceleration of technologies that have always been on the fringes, but are now really being unlocked with 5G, and in particular private 5G, in smart ports.

Rory

So the leading edge of some of this technology almost, outside of the consumer eye, it's really being pushed on a logistics level.

Andrew

Absolutely. I think it's really interesting actually, out of a lot of different verticals and industries we're seeing quite a lot of interest and take up from port operators in 5G and private 5G. And that is, primarily, because of the use cases that they unlock. We don't typically go and deploy a private 5G network just for connectivity’s sake. No one really deploys private 5G to connect laptops up. It doesn’t work from a business case perspective. However, when you start to look at the use cases that it unlocks, that ranges, as I said, earlier from things like AGVs, right through to asset tracking, or augmented reality. All of those things start to provide efficiencies, transparency, and then, health and safety benefits to organisations. And at that point there’s a tipping point, that we see the business case really start to come into its own and provide that return on investment.

Bobby

So, what kind of real-time or near-real-time insights can those who implement these systems expect to see?

Andrew

So it's all about data. I think one of the really exciting examples I've seen recently, is one of the projects we did on the East Coast. And it was deploying IoT sensors across of a variety of different platforms. There were quite modern cranes, from the last sort of two or three years, but there were other cranes that were from the 1960s and still going strong. And again, they were being sweated, long into the future. And there's trucks, there's hoppers, there were forklifts, there's RTGs (rubber tyre gantries), a whole host of different things that you can connect IoT sensors to. And in this particular example, we connected them up to a lot of cranes, trucks and warehouses. And what we started to see and what we were able to demonstrate for the customer, was a real in-depth view of how their port operated. They started to see where cranes were running, and how often they were running, and how much cargo they were moving. Where the trucks and the lorries were parked, or where have their engines running, waiting for a birth to become free. And they started to look at things really, really basic things, but really crucial to port operations, such as hydraulic temperatures and pressures, AdBlue levels. And they were starting to make decisions, and get ahead of the curve, in terms of what they could do with this data. You know, when do they need to top up the fuel tank? When do they, you know, when do they need to top up the AdBlue tank? Actually, you know what, between 12 and 12:30, 1 o'clock, the cranes tend to be on a downtime because the chap’s probably having a break, or there's a break in the schedule and there isn’t a ship birthed at that moment in time. So lots of data coming together, on our data exchange, our IoT platform, started to give insight to how their port was operating. And it's the only when you start to take data from a crane, from a truck, from a warehouse and start to pull that together. So you start to get meaningful pieces of data, from that. You start to understand how these different disparate parts of your operation impact each other, and that leads to real data-led decisions there, which is super important for efficiencies, and through that real-time data collection.

Rory

And on a macro scale, you're talking about data insights, you mentioned earlier that no two ports are the same. Do you think that based on that IoT devices can be deployed more generally to improve efficiency, let's say in between different transport hubs, or will each solution need to be quite carefully tailored to individual site needs?

Andrew

Yeah, I think it's the latter. I think you've got to look at individual sites, and individual use cases, and tailor the solution. The actual IoT sensors themselves, are you know, they're really clever things. Yeah you can, you can attach them to a variety of different environments. I mean, we put sensors on 1960s cranes, and we made them much smarter in terms of the data they're able to provide. So the sensors themselves are fairly flexible, whether you're using them for inventory management or asset tracking, or just things like asset geofencing, and where is it? Where is it on your location? The sensors themselves are fairly standard, common items, but it’s only when you start to understand an actual customer, an actual port environment, and what’s important to them, do you really start to tailor a solution. And as I say, no two ports are the same. Some ports are very focused on people, passengers; some are, you know, fish terminals they deal with fish. So things such as refrigeration temperatures and reefer units, that's really important to them. Being able to make sure that the cargo is stored, and handled, in a correct environment. And actually, you know what, refrigeration and temperature’s probably, a really, really good example of a piece of data that you would actually want to start to see across the supply chain. So, as soon as you know, something’s caught, and brought ashore, and processed, obviously it'll be refrigerated and kept correct. As soon as it’s loaded into a truck, again the refrigeration, the temperature, all of that is really, really important. And I think as a customer and I'm not talking necessarily about a consumer, this could be a supermarket for example, or a fish wholesaler. Having an understanding that, end-to-end, that the fish that you're bringing in has been correctly stored at the right temperature is really important. I think another huge example where temperature, and which we've seen this very recently, which is hugely important, is for vaccines. And we've seen this at airports for example, where we've, I spoken to a freight forwarder organisation at Heathrow recently, and they are involved in moving some of the Covid vaccines that needed to be fairly chilled, for want of a better word. And, you know, the moment it arrives in their warehouse from the truck, the moment they load it onto an aeroplane, and then even when it moves from one aeroplane to another because you know, quite often they're not end-to-end, the temperature, the condition is vitally important to make sure that you know that vaccine is is kept correct. So, really good, example of a piece of data that, you know, it's not that hard to collect through IoT, through sensors. And there are still a lot of clipboards, and paper and manual checking your temperatures I've seen, but that's a really good example of end-to-end data being used in a specific use case for specific environments. So yeah, a combination of the two Rory, I’d say.

Bobby

So can IoT campus solutions address the logistical issues across the UK, or internationally, or do they simply offer localised efficiency improvements?

Andrew

I mean, clearly there is localised benefit, yeah. But I think what we seeing is, when it comes to supply chains in general, they're all heavily interlinked. When goods arrive from the ship to the being unloaded, to being taken on the road and delivered to a customer, or a manufacturer, or wherever they go, that whole process is a hugely interlocked in a lot of different ways, whether it's coal for a power station, for example, or whether it's cargo containers for the construction industry, these are all industries that rely on closely-knitted, secure supply chain environments that are very much interlinked. And I think with IoT and with technology, as we talked about, I think bringing those closer together will help those end users immensely to plan their business, plan how they operate. So, yeah, you know, I think in short that those things can bring efficiencies, they can bring benefits to the end-to-end supply chain, and indeed the businesses that consume them. And of course, there are going to be local efficiencies, whether that's through the level of automation, or teleoperation we've seen, that we can bring. Local ports, and local environments can enjoy those efficiencies too.

Rory

And in terms of bringing in efficiency for localised areas, aside from the implementation of hardware, we've talked about network load a bit, but is the implementation of a network that's capable of handling that amount of data load, is that something also something of a stumbling block, particularly in areas with a lot of legacy architectures? Shall we say like, clipboards? It is a lot of the groundwork there really setting up a system that can handle that kind of data load?

Andrew

Yeah. No, I absolutely there is, I said earlier, I think 80% of ports continue to rely on manual, legacy, you know, systems. And a lot of paper, a lot of clipboards. What we do see with IoT and the platforms that support them, and including the connectivity with 5G, there is the ability to handle large amounts of data, very, very quickly, and process that data and come up with some sort of decision on the back of it. And so the actual technology itself is good, you know, it's available now, we've seen some great deployments and we've seen some good benefits for customers. I think the challenge that we face, we talked about earlier around sharing data between different players in the industry, that’s clearly one. But very much basic is getting that data digitised, that whole digitisation journey is the process of how you move to the IoT world, the 5G world. It’s bringing the people with you as well. You know, it's really, really important that people are on the journey with this. What we found is processes and systems in port environments have evolved. They've evolved over many, many years of lots of really experienced people. They're not predictable environments. They can be quite, you know, they're noisy. They can be quite dangerous at times, there’s a lot of activity happening. And so the people that stitch those processes together with paper has grown over time. And so it's really, really important that when you look at these environments, and speak to the people, you start to understand, really how those environments actually work. And I think that is the real challenge. We, recently visited a port where we were looking at teleoperation of some heavy plant, and it's only when the actual operator of the heavy plant, who was one of the tenants on-site, came down to see us that they really started to give us a much detailed insight on how their operation actually worked, and actually how we could then tailor the technology and the solution around it to meet their needs. It's only when you really sit down and speak to people, and really start to understand those processes that you can effectively plan solutions that are actually gonna do what they say on the tin. And I think that's really important for any engagement report, or any environment, the technology is great, you know, the IoT and the 5G. It is very capable, it is very exciting, but it starts with that digitisation journey with people, and understanding what the sort of as-is current environment is at any given time. So that's really important.

Bobby

Just going back to something you mentioned earlier about drone use. Is that something becoming more popular in ports?

Andrew

Yeah, no, absolutely. Drone use in ports is growing, definitely. We're seeing, we actually ran a trial on South Coast recently, with one of the port operators, and they found using drones and deploying them really, really useful. I think when it comes to drones, there were three major areas of operation, or useful business cases. One of them was around port operations and we saw examples, whether that is inspection, which is what I talked about earlier. The biggest area around inspection is rust, you know, these environments are next to the sea, right? And a lot of metal, and a lot of seawater and fresh sea air, rust will appear in areas that is quite hard sometimes to see. So drones looking for things, like rust, was really important. Just things like moss and vegetation, and just you know general upkeep of buildings is a big task on these big warehouses, so that inspection piece was really important. We've also seen drones being used in place of people for, we've seen hoppers, for example, if they've gotten jammed or issues, where typically some all have had to go in and had a look and not a particularly nice, safe clean environment. But drones can start to understand, or start to look at where issues are. We’ve also seen quite exciting cases around 3D assessments. And so when ships are unloading or perhaps loading, you can use drones to do a bit of a 3D hold assessment, start to understand shipping capacity. And again, that's quite a new innovative use of drones. So port operations and drones is really important. I think the second area though is around the sort of policing and security, and two really, really clear, examples around, whether it's the sort of maritime and land surveillance piece, whether it's security on site. But we're actually seeing opportunities to use drones for search and rescue operations as well, which is hugely important. Being able to use drones, and work with other blue light services, during those search and rescue missions has been really useful to see. I think the final thing is around property, and property maintenance. It's a little bit like what I talked about with operations and inspection but, sometimes when ports are expanding, or they're building, getting overhead area imagery typically has been something they've had to get third parties in to start to understand how the port environments evolved over time. So I think property and indeed marketing, you know, they want to do some marketing material, all of those types of use cases and more in fact, we're seeing with the use of drones. And I think they're going to start to grow as the use of drones becomes, you know, we see that more and more. So very much operational security and indeed, just helping the operation move forward, is where we see drones being used in ports,

Rory

Great. Andrew, thank you for being on the show.

Andrew

Brilliant. Thank you for having me, really enjoyed it, and thanks very much.

Rory

You can find links to all of the topics we've spoken about today in the show notes and even more on our website at itpro.co.uk.

Bobby

You can also follow us on social media, as well as subscribe to our daily newsletter.

Rory

Don't forget to subscribe to the IT Pro Podcast wherever you find podcasts. And if you're enjoying the show, leave us a rating and a review.

Bobby

We'll be back next week with more insight from the world of IT but until then, goodbye.

Facing the triple threat of supply issues, tough economic headwinds, and the climate crisis it’s vital that the supply chain can run at low cost, and with as little carbon footprint as possible. Implementation of smart ports using the internet of things and 5G could hold the answer.

Using fast local networks, smart port tech can track crane movement, metrics such as operational speed and maintenance needs, and the location of resources in near real-time to provide valuable operational data. This week, we’re joined by Andrew Quinton, Senior Manager/Principal Architect of 5G solutions at BT to discuss all things smart ports and expand on the benefits already demonstrated in active port environments.

Highlights

“They're all independent islands and silos operating within a port environment. So it can feel, with these different organisations and different agencies, quite disjointed at times from a technology perspective.”

“It's also important to note as well, that no two ports are the same. And there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for ports. We've seen that, you know, automating container ports, with sensors and crane management, that's a very different proposition to cruise ship terminals and ferry terminals, where perhaps you need more high speed Wi-Fi, and public cellular connectivity for video calls and general consumer conversations.”

“So the sensors themselves are fairly flexible, whether you're using them for inventory management or asset tracking, or just things like asset geofencing, and where is it? Where is it in your location? The sensors themselves are fairly standard, common items, but it’s only when you start to understand an actual customer, an actual port environment, and what’s important to them, do you really start to tailor a solution.”

Read the full transcript here.

Footnotes

• What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
• BT and ABP's Port of Ipswich trial IoT solution to digitise port operations
• UK’s largest port to deploy 5G and IoT tech
• BT to invest almost £100 million in innovative 5G and edge business use cases
• How to use IoT to meet sustainability goals
• How AI can help – and hinder – the supply chain crisis
• Mapping an entire country: Meet Singapore’s digital twin
• Port of Southampton becomes Verizon's first private 5G customer in Europe
• The UK's IoT proposals are riddled with ‘astonishing’ gaps
• IoT security market to hit $59 billion by 2029

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The idea of using your mind to control digital devices has been in development for decades. Only in recent years, though, has the brain-computer interface (BCI) begun to show practical potential. Indeed, this futuristic-sounding technology could soon be the next frontier for the user interface (UI), post-touch and post-voice.

BCI technology allows users to focus their minds on a task they want to achieve, and transmits their instructions to a device or application. This is commonly done through electrodes planted close to the scalp, although some BCI systems use implanted sensors. Researchers at Berkeley have also created 'neural dust' – a small device the size of a grain of rice – that could be implanted in the body and connected wirelessly to a controlling device.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the military sees a plethora of potential applications in BCI technology, with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) carrying out much of the current research. For businesses, BCI might seem more at home in science fiction, but so did the likes of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and quantum computers, until breakthroughs shifted the paradigm.

BCI could be on a similar trajectory and could be practical in specific environments, futurist Ian Pearson tells IT Pro. "BCI is likely to be used in situations where other interfaces are not appropriate: the battlefield, for example, or public areas where speech, typing or gestural control isn't possible," he says.

The technology can, for example, be used to change channels on a TV or send messages. Consumer deployments aside, various industries across the economy, albeit cautiously, will be keen to exploit the potential of this emerging technology.

BCI is connecting minds together

Some of the most promising research is happening in the realm of medical science. As shown by organisations like the BCI Pioneers Coalition, the technology is helping disabled patients control artificial limbs or people with severe mobility issues and paralysis control speech synthesisers or motorised wheelchairs. Related implanted technologies can also relieve the symptoms of neurological conditions.

"Researchers are optimistic that the development of BCI technology, if applied correctly, could greatly enhance human-machine teaming,” Dr Helen Dudfield, chief of training for QinetiQ, tells IT Pro. "'Adaptive' BCI, meanwhile, with the ability to respond to an operator's needs at the speed-of-thought, can help to manage performance in mentally challenging situations, by streamlining information and monitoring and reacting to stimuli.”

Several BCI technologies already exist, including Neurable, which builds brainwave sensors into headphones to make their BCI technology accessible. Emotiv, Kernel, Bitbrain, OpenBCI,and Elon Musk’s Neuralink have sensing technologies that developers can use to develop their BCI products further. NextMind, too, is how many envisage BCI manifesting in the workplace – a device that augments existing control technologies such as keyboards, mice, and VR headsets.

In business, BCI could become one component of a multifaceted interface, says Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) artificial intelligence (AI) ethics engineer and AI faculty at Singularity University, Eleanor Watson. “BCI systems can further streamline technologies which attempt to present immersive interfaces and blended realities. It may enable AR within natural eyes, by interfacing with the optical network of the brain rather than technology before or inside the eyes.

“BCI can enable us to tune our environment with reduced or altered stimuli without requiring anything over our physical ears,” Watson adds. “These elements, together, will provide greater control over our personal circumstances on one level, but it may also insulate us from stimuli in a manner which could be unhelpful. The sudden breakdown of BCI tech could create a jarring and unsettling return to base reality.”

Can BCI represent a solid business opportunity?

Whether this technology can shift from a novelty to a practical tool remains to be seen. BCI systems do have several business applications, but expectations for executives to begin handing out brainwave devices should be tapered. The hardware, for example, would be extremely cumbersome, and businesses would be required to make huge investments in technology that hasn’t yet proven its worth. The reluctance to adopt VR on a widespread basis, despite some demonstrable benefits like in training, signals how long it might take.

There are also several privacy issues to address. Specifically, when using this technology, how could brain activity be tracked and analysed? Some employers have been keen to harness new technology, and exploit trends like hybrid work, to further raise the level of . There’s no reason this won’t be extended if and when BCI is adopted. The Harvard Business Review, for example, ponders whether a BCI human resources (HR) dashboard is the future, where employees’ attention could be monitored through the technology they use.

“If BCI becomes commonplace, people may be coerced into adopting them as an implied condition of employment, as an efficient employee,” says the IEEE’s Watson, warning about the potential privacy issues. “This may lead to people being even more burdened with work and overstimulation. Not everyone may be able to use BCI, and any implanted technologies may go quickly out of date and may not be easy to upgrade. Imagine being stuck with the limitations of a first-generation smartphone for the rest of your life.”

How BCI would be deployed will need a detailed debate to ensure the ethics, social and emotional impact BCI could have in a military setting, for instance. In an office or remote working environment, how users would integrate BCI into their working lives has yet to come into focus. Today, a few novel consumer products illustrate that the fundamental technology that underpins BCI is tangible. The next stage will be to evolve these technologies into practical business tools.

Microsoft has introduced a score of new features to its flagship Edge browser that aim to improve productivity, the onboarding of new starters, and cyber security.

Microsoft Edge Workspaces, a new feature introduced at the company's Ignite conference this week, offers functionality for teams to work on the same set of browser tabs at the same time.

Workspaces can be configured by teams and feature any number of project tabs in a single workspace. Workspaces can then be shared around for anyone to easily open the necessary files, websites, and documents required for collaborative work.

Microsoft envisions this being useful for both teams with collaboration needs and also for use cases such as onboarding new starters who may need to get accustomed to the project quickly.

“Using Edge Workspaces is simple - open important project links as browser tabs and share the Edge Workspace so everyone is working off the same set of websites and files,” said Microsoft.

“If you need to update anything, it’s as simple as closing and opening tabs. And it all happens in real-time in the workspace so everyone can easily see the whole picture.

“Early testers call Microsoft Edge Workspaces a ‘time saver’ and that it offers ‘efficiency…since we are all working off of the same material in an intuitive way’.

Other productivity features include the introduction of a new sidebar for the browser which offers quick access to commonly used apps such as Outlook.

Microsoft’s thinking is that switching between apps that require individual windows can break focus and reduce overall productivity by introducing new distractions.

The new sidebar also has quick access to the Office apps so users can now send emails or make document adjustments from within the Edge browser itself.

“Having to always navigate to other apps while working on a task is draining and distracting,” said Microsoft. “To maintain your focus as you’re working in the browser, Microsoft Edge now has a sidebar – a panel on the right side of the browser that allows for easier access to popular apps so you can view them side-by-side with your task at hand.

“Sending a quick email while in the middle of something shouldn’t break your stride, and now it doesn’t have to.”

It’s possible that Microsoft wants Edge to offer a more ‘complete’ package for users similar to how Google Chrome and G Suite users can access Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and web pages all from Chrome tabs, for example.

Safety first

Typo protection

Microsoft has also introduced new security features to make it more difficult for users to inadvertently cause a data breach or a malware infection.

Typosquatting has become a more popular threat vector in recent years and even experienced users can sometimes succumb to such attacks.

In typosquatting attacks, cyber criminals register domain names that are very similar to those of legitimate, popular websites with around one or two characters changed to ones that are in close proximity to the correct button on the keyboard.

For example, itpro.co.uk may become iupro[.]co[.]uk. The cyber criminals may register the latter domain in the hope that someone visits it and types the URL in haste, making a typing error that leads them to the attacker-controlled site, potentially leading to malware downloads.

Edge users will now be served a full-page warning when the browser believes that they may have typed a URL incorrectly, similar to the warning most browsers serve users before entering an unprotected website or one that is suspected to be malicious.

Security mode meets zero trust

Enhanced security mode is another new opt-in feature that applies more stringent security controls to the Edge browser, and can be enabled with varying digress of ‘strictness’ by IT admins.

It applies zero trust principles to combat common exploits for memory-related vulnerabilities using just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation - the same method Apple uses to protect users in iOS 16’s Lockdown Mode.

The new mode also enables operating system protections for the browser such as hardware-enforced stack protection and arbitrary code guard (ACG).

Neither security features are new and have been implemented by Microsoft in the past. Hardware-enforced stack protection enforces strict management of a program’s memory stack using CPU hardware and shadow stacks.

Shadow stacks are copies of any given program’s planned code execution flow which are guarded by a portion of the CPU’s memory to stop malware from exploiting memory vulnerabilities in software.

ACG was introduced to Windows 10 in 2019 and prevents exploits by refusing processes the ability to allocate new executable memory and from writing to any existing executable memory.

There is a variety of other new features coming to the browser spanning accessibility, privacy, and creativity that can be discovered in full on Microsoft’s dedicated page.

Gmail is undoubtedly easy to use, has a neat interface, and comes packed with many great features - and it's one of the best email providers. But if you haven’t been utilizing all of these, you’re missing out.

In this article, we’ll go over a few Gmail tips to help you make the most out of the application and elevate your productivity. Let’s get right to it!

1. Confidential emails

Confidential mode massively enhances your privacy, and is the first of our Gmail tips. With this turned on, the recipient will not be able to forward, copy, download, or print your email. You can set an expiration date — one day, one week, one month, or all the way up to five years. However, you’re not limited to these timeframes, and you can revoke access to the email before the expiration time is reached.

For additional security, you can add password protection to the email by enabling an SMS passcode and adding the recipient’s phone number. When the recipient receives the email, they’ll also receive a passcode by SMS for verification.

To activate confidential mode, start composing a new mail and click on the lock and time icon in the bottom toolbar. Please note: recipients can still take screenshots of confidential emails, as there’s no protection against that.

2. Reading pane

Opening an email and then moving back to the inbox to open another can feel cumbersome. Instead, you can set up the reading pane to view and reply to your emails from the inbox directly.

To set this up, click on the settings icon at the top right, and scroll to the reading pane section. Here, you can choose where you want the reading pane to appear: to the right of your inbox, or below it. Once you’ve selected a layout that’s comfortable, you can adjust the reading pane’s size by dragging it.

3. Colour stars

You’ve probably used stars to mark your emails: maybe as something important, or something you need to refer to in the future. Starring a message makes it much easier to locate in the inbox.

But if you want to mark your emails more precisely, you can activate and use various star icons. To do this, go to the general section under settings and look for the stars segment. Here, you’ll find 12 icons that include an orange star, a blue star, a red exclamation, a yellow exclamation, and a purple question mark. You are free to select as many icons as you like.

Once you’ve made your selection, save the changes and head back to your inbox. Each time you click on the star icon now, it’ll cycle through the list of icons you’ve selected. With this, you’ll be able to rank your emails even better than before.

4. Shortcuts

Gmail is loaded with around 100 keyboard shortcuts. There’s a shortcut for almost every single action: from simple actions like composing, to more complex ones like selecting starred conversations.

To activate keyboard shortcuts, go to the general section under settings and select “Keyboard shortcuts on.” You can access the elaborate sheet of shortcuts by hitting Shift+? in the application. Once you get a hang of these shortcuts, you’ll be zooming through your Gmail tasks.

5. Templates

Do you send out a lot of repetitive emails? If so, then templates are just what you need. Earlier called “canned responses,” you can set up templates, insert them into your emails, and customise them as needed.

To enable templates, go to the advanced section under settings and click enable in the templates segment. After this, draft a message that you send out frequently and click the three dots on the bottom right, next to the delete icon. Select templates, and you’ll be able to save the message you’ve drafted as a template. You can access, save, and delete all your templates through this option.

6. Snippets

The emails in your inbox show you the subject and a preview of the message, known as a snippet. These can be distracting and can prevent you from focusing on important tasks.

To turn snippets off, head to the general section under settings and click “No snippets” under the snippets segment. If it enhances your productivity, you could keep the snippets turned off.

7. Out-of-office responder

The out-of-office responder is a handy tool if you’re not going to have access to your Gmail account for a set duration. You can use this to automatically notify people that you’re away from your account. With the responder turned on, emails to your account will receive the automated response you’ve written in the auto-reply box.

The holiday begins at 12:00 AM on the start date and ends at 11:59 PM on the last date, if you’ve set one. You have the option to end your out-of-office earlier too. The response is generally sent to people the first time they email you. If the same person emails you again after four days, they’ll receive the response once more.

The out-of-office response is not sent to emails that land in the spam folder, or emails addressed to mailing lists.

8. Nudges

It’s quite common to get caught up with things and forget to respond to emails. With the nudges feature, you’ll not have to worry too much about it.

This feature reminds you to reply to emails that require a response. You’ll receive a nudge if you haven’t replied to a message for a few days. The notification will pop up in your inbox, and you can use it or dismiss it. To turn this feature on, head to the general section under settings and tick the nudges segment.

It's important to note that you can also recover deleted emails in Gmail using its built-in tools, although Gmail's data retention rules mean this is only easily done if the messages were deleted within a 30-day window.

With the tips given above, you’ll see your productivity soar. But you’ll discover more useful shortcuts if you tinker around with the application yourself. Read our Gmail review for more information on the platform.

According to Wikipedia, the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words," expresses the idea that a complex concept can be easily understood using just a single image. It also aptly characterises one of the main goals of visualisation, namely making it possible to absorb large amounts of data quickly.

With this in mind, one often wonders why many presentations have little or no appropriate pictures. One common reason is that the creation and editing of pictures is a challenge for many, especially those not naturally gifted in creating artwork or specifically skilled in dedicated drawing/photo-editing software.

This article provides an overview of the PowerPoint 2010 Photo/Picture manipulation tools, that can speed up the process of creating appropriate pictures, to help emphasise your presentation.

Where are the tools?

By default, the PowerPoint 2010 Picture Tools ribbon is not visible and will only appear when you insert a picture or double click on a picture that is already embedded within PowerPoint.

Once the Picture Tools Ribbon appears, there are several useful tools that you can use to quickly enhance your presentations. The tools we give a brief overview of are; Remove Background, Corrections, Artistic Effects, Picture Styles, and Cropping

PowerPoint photo manipulation tools

The Remove Background tool is useful for separating a foreground object in a picture from the background, providing there is a reasonable amount of difference between the object and the background. In other words, the Remove Background tool is useful when you have several objects in a picture or photograph and your presentation needs to focus on one specific object. This tool will help you quickly eliminate all other objects apart from the one object that you want your audience to look at.

Corrections is a tool that has two purposes:

1. Corrections enables you to adjust the brightness and contrast of an image, which is helpful when your photograph or picture is too dark or too bright to be seen properly.
2. Corrections enables you to adjust the sharpness and softness of a picture - helpful if, for example, you have want to sharpen the blurry text in a screenshot to make it more readable to your audience. Increasing the sharpness is also useful if your photographs appear a little smudged or some of the details have been lost due to bad lighting. Conversely, the Soften setting is useful for portrait shots, where you want to make the subject's skin look smoother.

The Artistic Effects tool provides a basic collection of filters to change your image. These filters are useful if you are trying to make your pictures more interesting - some examples of this use include; transposing a colour photograph to a black and white look and transforming the photograph to look more like a drawing or painting.

Tip: You can apply only one artistic effect at a time to a picture, so applying a different artistic effect will remove the previously applied artistic effect.

Picture styles

Along with the different tools covered in this article, PowerPoint also has a range of customisable effects at its disposal which range from glows, 3D treatments, reflections, and much more. These effects can be found in the Picture Styles group of commands where you can experiment with Picture Effects, Picture Layout and Picture Borders.

Customised effects

PowerPoint also lets you create your own customised versions of many of the effects discussed in this article by using the Picture Styles dialog launcher (it's the tiny grey arrow on the right corner of the Picture Styles group). When you click on the Picture Styles dialog launcher, the Format Picture dialog box will appear with adjustable settings that enable you to experiment with different combinations of corrections, 3D picture glows, borders and other photo manipulation options.

More than just another cropping tool

The most widely used tool, common to all graphics applications, is the crop tool. The crop tool is used for snipping out parts of a picture or photograph that you don't want.

However, PowerPoint's crop tool has an additional feature that goes beyond simply cutting to a rectangular shape or square - it now enables you to crop to specific shapes such as block arrows and star shapes.

The Photo Manipulation tools are particularly useful to help when trying to create eye-catching presentations for a slide show. Whether you're presenting to a general audience, your lecturer or your boss, it's important to ensure the pictures on the slides complement your presentation rather than hinder it.

Microsoft Word and Excel are essential tools within the Microsoft Office suite, and their most recent versions have gained enhanced online capabilities that make them even more effective for collaboration. These updates have positioned Word and Excel among the best online collaboration tools for team-based document editing and data sharing.

A common query among users is how to insert tick or cross symbols into a document or spreadsheet, symbols that aren’t readily available on a standard keyboard.

The good news is that adding these symbols is straightforward. Whether you prefer using copy-and-paste, navigating the Symbol menu, utilizing the modern Emoji picker, or setting up Excel automation, this guide outlines the most effective methods for inserting tick and cross symbols.

The good news is that adding these symbols is straightforward. Whether you prefer using copy-and-paste, navigating the Symbol menu, utilizing the modern Emoji picker, or setting up Excel automation, this guide outlines the most effective methods for inserting tick and cross symbols.

Here are the best ways to insert ticks and crosses, ranked from the simplest to the most advanced.

On Windows:

1. Place your cursor where you want the symbol.
2. Hold down the Windows Key and press . (full stop).
3. Type "check" or "cross" in the search bar.
4. Select the symbol you prefer (✅, ❌, ✔️, ✖️).

On Mac:

1. Press Control + Command + Space.
2. This opens the Character Viewer; simply search for "check" or "mark" to insert the symbol.

Ticks: ✓ ✔ ☑ ✅

Crosses: ✕ ✖ ✗ ✘

This works across all versions of Word and Excel and is especially handy for one-off insertions.

1. Click the Insert tab in the ribbon at the top of the window.
2. Select Symbol, then click More Symbols from the dropdown.
3. In the Font dropdown, choose Wingdings (or Wingdings 2).
4. Scroll to the bottom of the list to find the tick or cross symbol.
5. Click Insert, then Close.

• Set your font to Wingdings.
• Hold down the Alt key.
• Type the following numbers on your number pad (not the top row numbers):
  • Alt + 0252: ü (Standard Tick)
  • Alt + 0254: þ (Boxed Tick)
  • Alt + 0251: û (Standard Cross)
  • Alt + 0253: ý (Boxed Cross)
• Release the Alt key, and the symbol will appear.

1. Change your font to Wingdings 2.
2. Press Shift + P to insert a Tick (✓).
3. Press Shift + O to insert a Cross (✗).
4. Press Shift + R to insert a Tick in a box.
5. Press Shift + Q to insert a Cross in a box.

1. Open the Symbol menu (Insert > Symbol > More Symbols).
2. Select the tick or cross you want to use.
3. Click the AutoCorrect... button at the bottom left.
4. In the "Replace" box, type a shorthand code (e.g., chk or no).
5. Ensure the "With" box contains your selected symbol.
6. Click Add, then OK.

Now, whenever you type chk and press space, it will instantly convert to a tick.

1. Highlight the column of numbers (e.g., 1 for yes, 0 for no).
2. Go to the Home tab and click Conditional Formatting.
3. Hover over Icon Sets and choose the set with the Tick and Cross indicators.
4. To hide the numbers and only show the icons, go to Conditional Formatting > Manage Rules > Edit Rule and check the box that says Show Icon Only.

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. Click Icons.
3. In the search bar, type "Tick" or "Cross."
4. Select the design you like and click Insert.
5. Because these are graphics, you can resize them without pixelation and change their color using the Graphics Format tab.

Summary

We've covered eight methods for inserting tick and cross symbols, ranging from the classic Alt codes to modern Emoji panels and Excel automation.

The Microsoft Office suite is in our list of the best tools and apps for remote workers, though we’ve found that many companies still aren’t making the most of Microsoft 365, because employees aren’t always aware of all the features that are available to them.

For more information on how to get the best out of Microsoft Word and Excel, we’ve put together a few guides. We discuss how to use the Microsoft Office Ribbon and how to start page numbering from a specific page in Microsoft Word. You may also find it useful to learn how to insert and edit footnotes in Microsoft Word.

The Microsoft Office suite, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and a handful of other office productivity tools, has been a staple in the workplace for over 30 years.

Traditionally, you were required to download the office suite to your Windows computer and run it offline, and some people still use Microsoft Office this way. But around 2006, Microsoft felt pressure from web-based document editors such as the Google Docs Editors suite from rival Google, so an online version of Microsoft Office now exists known as Microsoft 365.

Google offered its online office suite for free, so it quickly captured much of the market. Other Microsoft Office alternatives emerged, too, that catered to particular niches, such as cross-platform office suites and open-source office tools.

There are currently enough alternatives to Office with their own benefits that it makes sense to consider whether there’s a better option for your business.

In this guide, we take a look at some of the best Microsoft Office alternatives on offer today. There’s no clear winner here because the perfect office suite for your needs depends on your unique requirements. We’ve included a variety of free, paid, web-based, and desktop alternatives, and discussed the pros and cons of each.

The best alternatives to Microsoft Office

Google Workspace

The original cloud-based office suite

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: From £4.14 a month
• Platform: Web application with mobile apps

REASONS TO BUY

• Long list of useful apps
• Apps work well together

REASONS TO AVOID

• Limited offline features
• Higher-tier plans are pricey

Google Workspace, previously known as G Suite, is a cloud-based productivity suite from internet giant Google. It’s an amalgamation of 12 Google tools for a monthly subscription that starts at £4.14 per user a month. These tools include Gmail (email), Drive (cloud storage), Docs (word processing), Sheets (spreadsheets), Slides (presentations), and Meet (video conferencing).

The tools work well in any modern web browser, which makes deployment across an organisation a cinch. There are mobile apps for Apple and Android devices, so you can access your documents from all your devices wherever you are.

Collaboration is also excellent, so you can seamlessly work on the same documents with colleagues without stepping on each other’s toes, and there’s robust versioning so you can roll back to previous versions of documents if need be.

You can import and export Microsoft-format documents, but note that it can cause formatting mistakes. This is more the fault of Microsoft’s convoluted file formats than anything else, but it’s something to be wary of if you need pixel-perfect document layouts.

Workplace’s cloud-based nature can also sometimes work against it. If you lose your internet connection, some features don’t work, making it a relatively poor choice compared to a desktop Office suite if you travel often.

LibreOffice

Top-tier open-source Office alternative

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: Free
• Platform: Linux/Windows/macOS

REASONS TO BUY

• Open-source
• Included in most Linux distribution

REASONS TO AVOID

• No hosted cloud solution
• Limited support options

Hundreds of open-source alternatives to Microsoft Office have been developed over the past few decades, and LibreOffice has emerged as the top dog. Preceded by OpenOffice and StarOffice, this popular software has always been nipping at Microsoft Office’s heels.

By default, LibreOffice uses the ODF (OpenDocument) format, but it’s able to competently handle Microsoft Office document formats. You can export to PDF, too.

LibreOffice works best as an offline, single-user desktop office suite. A server service, LibreOffice Online, is available if you want to create your own collaboration server for employees, but it’s a significant challenge to implement compared to public cloud-based options from Google, Microsoft, and Zoho.

As a free, open-source project, LibreOffice also doesn’t have the level of customer support you typically get from a commercial product. However, it’s by far the most widely used open-source Office suite, and there’s a wealth of information online for troubleshooting issues. There are a few LibreOffice certified developers, consultants, and trainers you can hire, too, should it be required.

Zoho Workplace

An inexpensive cloud-based office suite

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: From £2.40 per user a month
• Platform: Web-based

REASONS TO BUY

• Wide range of useful tools
• Basic free-forever plan

REASONS TO AVOID

• Limited offline functionality
• Lacks advanced features

Zoho is a company that embraced cloud services early. It offers hundreds of different cloud-based tools that cover everything from call center management to financial operations. Zoho Workplace is the subset of these tools that most closely mirrors the Microsoft Office suite.

Depending on the plan you choose (Free, Mail Only, Standard, or Professional), you get access to online tools that handle word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, cloud storage, video conferencing, calendars, and email.

While it’s possible to use the service for free, it’s extremely limited. The Standard plan at £2.40 per user a month is a more realistic choice; or you can upgrade to the £4.80 per user a month plan for more storage space and video conferencing, which supports up to 100 people at a time.

Zoho has a lot of apps, and it’s sometimes possible to import from one app to another, but the relationship between apps isn’t as seamless as we’d like. Zoho tools also lack some of the features of the Microsoft Office Suite such as a standalone calendar and task app, and offline features are limited.

Still, if you just need a cloud-based office suite without all the bells and whistles, Zoho Workplace is attractively priced and easy to use.

WPS Office

Great features from an ad-supported office suite

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: Free or £1.93 a month
• Platform: Windows/macOS/Android/iOS/Linux/Web

REASONS TO BUY

• Clean, intuitive user interface
• Cross-platform office suite

REASONS TO AVOID

• Free tier has built-in ads
• Limited cloud storage space

WPS Office is a relatively new Microsoft Office alternative from Chinese developer Kingsoft. It has a clean, well-organised user interface, making it easy to pick up and use.

Two versions of WPS Office exist: the free version and WPS Office Premium. The free version includes all of the basic functionalities you need such as a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tool. However, you are often served distracting ads, and cloud storage is limited to 1GB.

The paid version is a reasonable £1.93 a month or £23.22 a year. It removes ads, bumps your cloud storage to 20GB, adds optical character recognition, and includes a PDF editor. You can also pay for six months of access for £14.70, while there's a business plan that requires you to contact sales for more details.

Besides the downloadable clients for all popular desktop operating systems and mobile devices, WPS Office has an online version with support for collaboration. You can share documents with specific individuals and even set document access to expire after a certain number of days.

Though WPS Office can run a little slow on low-specification hardware, it’s a solid alternative to Microsoft Office, and with the free plan, it’s easy to try it out for yourself.

OfficeSuite

An MS Office replacement for your mobile devices

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: From £2.99 per user a month
• Platform: Windows/iOS/Android

REASONS TO BUY

• Good PDF editing tools
• 30-day free trial

REASONS TO AVOID

• Limited collaboration tools
• Ads in the free version

OfficeSuite from MobiSystems is a Microsoft Office replacement that’s most often used on iOS and Android mobile devices, though there’s a version of the software available for Microsoft Windows computers, too. OfficeSuite is often pre-installed on a lot of mobile devices from Amazon, Sony, and Toshiba. Using your OfficeSuite account, you can synchronize your documents automatically between your mobile devices and your PC.

There are many ways to buy OfficeSuite. The free version is essentially a document viewer, so to edit documents you’ll need the £29.99 a year personal plan. Or, you can choose the £44.99 a year family plan that’s good for up to six people, or pay £75.99 for a one-time purchase that doesn’t expire.

There are business plans too, starting at £2.99 per user a month. Most plans include 50GB of online storage, but one-time purchases only include 5GB.

OfficeSuite has good compatibility with Microsoft Office and PDF documents, support for multiple cloud services, and a user interface that closely resembles Microsoft Office. However, collaboration tools are lacking, making it a poor choice for teams.

Polaris Office

A powerful suite of document editing tools

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: Free–£65.92 (annual plan)
• Platform: Windows/macOS/Android/iOS

REASONS TO BUY

• Convert and edit PDF documents
• Powerful document editing tools

REASONS TO AVOID

• Free version has ads
• Complicated pricing plans

Polaris Office is a free office suite from Infraware with several paid versions available. Another Microsoft Office alternative that tries to copy the original software’s user interface to a tee, Polaris Office is easy to use and has support for all popular Office file formats, and the editing tools are better than most Office alternatives.

The free version includes 1GB of cloud storage, but you can connect your own cloud storage service to increase the space. The free version is also supported by advertising. If you find this annoying, there are multiple paid upgrades and many ways to pay for them.

For example, there’s the cloud-based Polaris Cloud Office (which has three levels with different features), Polaris Office PC for Windows, Polaris Office PC for macOS, and Polaris Office Mobile. Some of these are subscription-model-based and others are lifetime licenses. Expect to pay at least £4.94 a month for features comparable to Office 365.

OnlyOffice Docs

Run your own cloud-based Office alternative

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: Free–£1,303+
• Platform: Windows/Linux/iOS/Android

REASONS TO BUY

• Use your own cloud for team collaboration
• Free, full-featured open-source version

REASONS TO AVOID

• Relatively complex initial setup
• Limited support for the free version

OnlyOffice Docs, from Latvian developers Ascensio Systems SIA, is an online office productivity suite with over seven million users worldwide. OnlyOffice Docs is unique in this list, as it’s a cloud-based Office replacement that you can install on your own server for your team to use.

OnlyOffice Docs can run on your own local Windows, Debian, Ubuntu or CentoOS machine, a private cloud platform like Nextcloud, or a public cloud platform like Amazon AWS.

The code of OnlyOffice is open source. You can download and use the Community version of the software for free, but it only supports up to 20 users. For the commercial option, you pay a one-time license fee of £1,303 per 50 users. While this initially sounds expensive, it could be cheaper than paying subscriptions for Microsoft 365 or Google Workplace.

OnlyOffice Docs includes a word processor, spreadsheet tool, and presentation software. Document, mail, and project management is available, too. You can collaborate on documents with others in real time, and there are neat features like document themes and editable autoshapes.

OnlyOffice Docs even has desktop versions of the apps for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Mobile versions for iOS and Android are also available for free.

OnlyOffice is an exciting alternative to Microsoft 365 or Google Workplace for companies that want to use their own infrastructure for privacy, cost saving, and versatility benefits.

WordPerfect

A solid office suite that comes at a high price

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: from £124.99
• Platform: Windows

REASONS TO BUY

• Works well with many document formats
• Extra apps included for photo manipulation

REASONS TO AVOID

• Expensive
• Limited team collaboration features

WordPerfect is the oldest Microsoft Office alternative on our list, and predates Office by over a decade. Available only for Windows, WordPerfect remains a decidedly old-school office suite. You won’t find any cloud-based services here.

WordPerfect has a similarly antiquated pricing model. A limited Home & Student version costs £124.99, the Standard version costs £319.99, and the Professional version £514.99. This is quite expensive, though there’s no ongoing fee like with cloud-based services.

All versions include a word processor, spreadsheet program, slideshow creator, and digital notebook, but the Home & Student version of the word processor strips out features like PDF import and Bates numbering.

There are some features to WordPerfect that might make you consider it over alternatives. Notably, the Standard and Professional versions include an eBook Publisher, so you can convert your document into EPUB format.

You also get Corel AfterShot 3 (a solid photo editor) MultiCam Capture Lite (video capture software that works with multiple cameras simultaneously), and Roxio Secure Burn (CD/DVD burning software). But if you don’t need these extras, WordPerfect’s price tag looks uncompetitive.

FreeOffice

A user-friendly but limited free MS Office replacement

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: Free
• Platform: Windows/Linux/macOS

REASONS TO BUY

• Familiar user interface
• Support for many file formats

REASONS TO AVOID

• Prone to crashes
• Most features reserved for the paid version

FreeOffice is a complete office suite that’s free to download and use. It supports a wide range of popular file formats, and it’s particularly good at handling Microsoft documents, something that can’t be said for all the software in our list.

It offers a word processor (TextMaker), presentation tool (Presentations), and spreadsheet tool (PlanMaker). FreeOffice also looks a lot like Microsoft Office, to the point that it would be hard to tell them apart at a glance. This makes it easy for seasoned Office users to pick it up.

But FreeOffice tends to crash. And though it’s entirely free to use, FreeOffice is really a stripped-down version of SoftMaker Office, a paid product with a subscription model. Want full-screen mode, spell-checking with commercial dictionaries, or a thesaurus? These basic features, and many more, are reserved for the paid product.

Calligra

An alternative open-source office suite from KDE

SPECIFICATIONS

• Price: Free
• Platform: Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows (beta)

REASONS TO BUY

• Open-source
• Runs particularly well on the Plasma desktop environment

REASONS TO AVOID

• Glacial development speed means infrequent updates
• Fiddly installation if you don’t use Plasma

Calligra is an office suite from KDE, the international free software community that develops open-source software. It’s the successor to KOffice, an open-source office suite that was once arguably the best alternative to Microsoft Office available, but Calligra has been eclipsed somewhat by more actively developed software like LibreOffice.

Calligra comprises Words (word processor), KEXI (visual database applications creator), Plan (project management application), Sheets (spreadsheet tool), Karbon (vector drawing tool), and Stage (presentation application).

Compared to other options in our list, Calligra has a somewhat clunky interface and handles Microsoft Office documents quite poorly. It can be a little difficult to install Calligra if your distribution doesn’t already include it, and there are no features for online collaboration.

Calligra’s bright spots are the Karbon vector drawing tool and the capable Sheets spreadsheet tool. You may want to use some of Calligra’s tools along with another open-source office suite like LibreOffice, but it doesn’t fare well as a Microsoft Office replacement on its own.

In years gone by, businesses would have been able to choose from a wide range of different software solutions, assessing the best email provider, document editor, storage system, and so on. This has all changed, however, with the introduction of holistic productivity suites, such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, previously known as G-Suite. These productivity suites integrate all of these products into a combined plan.

One might interpret these solutions as attempts from Microsoft and Google to lock customers into their particular product ecosystem and maximize their spend. If this is a serious concern for you, there are definitely standalone alternatives, both free and paid, available that you can mix and match to your heart’s content. 

Be warned, however, there are clear advantages for users who opt for Microsoft or Google’s unified plans, such as the litany of features and applications already integrated into the applications, as well as the lower overall cost of subscribing to a single plan. In this article, we will be comparing Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace, putting the two productivity suites head to head to judge their features, performance, support, and pricing.

• Microsoft 365 - the top choice for desktop software
  Boasting the world’s most popular office software suite, Microsoft 365 includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Outlook, Onedrive, and Teams through their desktop, mobile, or web apps. Simultaneous collaboration is made possible through real-time coauthoring, and one-hour support response for critical issues comes as standard in each of the three Microsoft 365 business plans. 
• Google Workspace - superior online suite and user-friendly
  One of Google Workspace's best features is its simplicity, all of its editor products Docs, Sheets, and Slides are refreshingly easy to use, also offering real-time coauthoring. Gmail, Meet, and Chat, give you access to your emails, video calls, and instant messaging via your browser. The online functionality in Workspace is simple and hard to match, with the support response time varying from one to four hours depending on which plan you choose.

Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace: Features

Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer pretty slick solutions for documents, spreadsheets, and presentation. Microsoft’s Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have been the default choice of office software for a number of years, and it's tough to beat them in terms of the maturity of their feature sets. All three are accessible via their desktop, mobile, and web apps, with real-time coauthoring available on the desktop apps.

Google Workspace’s competing products are Docs, Sheets, and Slides. While they don’t have the same depth as Microsoft’s offering in terms of their features, they do bring a refreshing simplicity and ease of use, and still offer more than enough power. Like Microsoft's 365 suite, Docs, Sheets, and Slides all offer real-time coauthoring, but unlike the Office apps, they can only be accessed through a web browser or their mobile apps. Although they are designed to be used in the web browser, all three allow for offline editing, and the edits sync with the server as soon as you're back online.

Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer a custom business email service, meaning each user can have an address using your organization’s domain. Just like other office apps, Microsoft gives users the option to access their email via the Outlook app or web browser, whereas Workspace users will have to settle for Gmail in the browser as there is no desktop app available (although you could always connect your Gmail account to third-party products like Outlook or Thunderbird).

Microsoft Teams is included in Microsoft 365 and can be used for video calls with up to 300 users, as well as instant messaging between teams or individuals. Google has two separate team communication services, Meet and Chat, which split these functions into two solutions, again only available through your browser (although handily both can be accessed from the Gmail interface). These are slightly more limited than Teams as they only allow 100, 150, or 250 users in a meeting depending on your plan.

Both services also provide cloud storage, online calendars, form creation, and team sites, whereas Microsoft 365 also bundles in Publisher for PC users and the database app Access, and Google has now an alternative for either. 

Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace: Performance

With respect to online stability, both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace provide a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This means that if you find that you cannot use parts of the productivity suite for 45 minutes in a month you’ll get a credit from Microsoft or Google. In reality, both options are very stable and very rarely go down.

In terms of ease of use, the simplicity of Google’s browser-based solution is tough to match. Every element of Workspace interacts with each other seamlessly, meaning you can access your files in the cloud and text chats from within the Gmail interface. Gmail also includes a number of handy time-saving features, such as smart suggestions, undo send, and the ability to organize emails using labels and folders. In comparison, Microsoft’s email interface looks a bit outdated and could do with a refresh.

Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace: Support

With both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, there are online help centers and community forums where you can find answers to many technical issues. You also have the option to contact tech support via phone, email, or text chat.

Every Google Workspace user can access the standard support system, which guarantees a four-hour response time to high-priority issues. For the added price, the more premium plans will get you enhanced support down to a one-hour response time. Microsoft’s support, on the other hand, offers a one-hour response to critical issues on all price plans. Accordingly, if timely technical support is a top concern for you, we would recommend going for Microsoft 365. 

Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace: Pricing and plans

There are four options available for Microsoft 365 business users—Business Basic, Apps for Business, Business Standard, and Business Premium. The Basic plan costs £4.50 per user a month and includes the web and mobile Office apps, business email, calendaring, and 1TB of storage. Apps for Business is £7.90 per user per month and offers simply the desktop apps with premium features plus 1TB of storage. Standard costs £9.40 per user a month and adds the desktop versions of 365 apps plus webinar and attendee registration and reporting tools, as well as customer appointment management. Finally, Premium costs £16.60 per user a month and adds advanced security and device management.

With Google Workspace, again there are three main plans—Starter, Standard, and Plus. Starter costs £4.14 per user a month and includes all document editing apps, business email, and 30GB of cloud storage per user. Standard costs £8.28 per user a month and includes 2TB of storage per user. Business Plus costs £13.80 per user a month and includes 5TB per user of storage, plus upgraded security and management controls. There's also an Enterprise-level plan, but you'll need to contact Google's sales team for pricing.

So, both options have similar pricing structures, though the main difference is that while Google has very limited storage on the cheapest plan and more storage as you go up, Microsoft includes the same amount of storage on each plan.

Microsoft’s Basic plan is the cheapest option overall, and if 1TB is enough for you and you don’t need the desktop apps, it may also be the best. If you want to pay a bit more for a Standard plan, your decision is between whether you want the desktop apps that come with Microsoft or the extra terabyte of storage that comes with Google Workspace.

Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace: Verdict

Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are comprehensive and cost-effective software options for running a small or medium business. They have similar pricing structures, and the elements included in each are actually quite similar—both have impressive email, documents, storage, calendaring, and video calls, among other functions.

A main difference is that, while most of Google’s functions are accessed via web browser, Microsoft’s are available as desktop apps. Google’s system is seen by some as more modern and integrated, but it can be easier and more organized to use separate apps for separate functions. If you prefer to use desktop apps, Microsoft 365 is definitely the better option for you.

That said, though Microsoft is catching up, Google’s online features are slicker, with many useful time-saving features built in, and the integration across the whole suite works very well. Thus, if you don’t mind not having desktop apps, Google Workspace is a very good option for modern small to medium businesses.

Formerly Office 365, Microsoft 365 is a comprehensive tool with multiple applications to aid your business. Office 365 for small businesses has been, and continues as Microsoft 365 to be, a complete service that makes it easy to collaborate on projects, store data, configure your IT infrastructure, and more, and provides one of the best email providers in Microsoft Outlook.

In this article, we'll run through the top 10 features that make this group of products ideal for small business owners. Read on to find out whether Microsoft 365 could help make your business more productive - and when you've finished, make sure to read our guide to the best Microsoft Office alternatives too.

1. Secure data storage

Microsoft's OneDrive is included in your Microsoft 365 package, and it enables you to store up to 1TB of data safely and securely. Microsoft has invested heavily in making OneDrive as secure as it can be, and goes to great lengths to maintain it, including a zero-standing access policy that ensures engineers cannot access user accounts unless they are specifically requested to.

OneDrive is also a brilliant vessel for collaboration. It enables you to share and collaborate on Microsoft apps in real time from any location and on any compatible device, safe in the knowledge that your files are securely backed up at all times. Read our OneDrive review to see what we thought of the service.

2. Company-wide licensing

Licensing can be a major headache for small business owners. Multiple software licenses can be expensive and difficult to navigate. You may find yourself in a situation where only a few members of your staff require certain types of software, so it can be hard to justify the expense.

With Microsoft 365, your single license fee covers all of the software solutions provided by the platform. This one-off payment is much easier to manage, and enables predictable pricing so you can budget better. Even if you have staff members that don’t use certain products, it doesn't matter since those products are included as standard.

3. Market-leading word processor

It’s highly likely that most, if not all, of your staff will require the use of a word processing platform at some point. Microsoft Word is by far the best known and most widely used word processing software available. Your staff are likely well aware of the software and therefore already competent in using it.

From a business point of view, Word’s commenting functionality is another key selling point. With comments on Word, it’s easy to collaborate on documents or request changes without having to create a new version of the document every time.

4. Ideal for dispersed teams

Word isn’t the only collaborative element you’ll find on Microsoft 365. With so many people working remotely for the foreseeable future, collaborative communication platforms are becoming ever more popular, and necessary.

Microsoft Teams is a major player in the market and comes with the Microsoft 365 Business package. Using Teams, users can host conference phone and video calls and collaborate on files in real time. The software also pools your company’s Microsoft apps in one place, so you can work on complex tasks collaboratively. Read our Microsoft Teams review to find out more.

5. Excellent email facilities

Microsoft Outlook is one of the best-known email clients, and comes as standard with Microsoft 365, where it can also be paired with Microsoft Exchange, a business-focused email server that provides secure email delivery, prioritised mail facilities, and automated and synced calendars. Other email perks include a 50GB mailbox, cloud-based management, a custom domain name, and more.

6. Top-notch cyber security

Microsoft ensures a very high level of security protection for its products, primarily through Microsoft Defender. Emails are protected with defences against multiple cybersecurity threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, phishing, and general spam.

It’s also possible to integrate password protection on files and other business information, and you can even prompt users within your network to update their security credentials on a regular basis. Additionally, you can restrict the copying or saving of business-specific information to third-party apps, and remotely wipe compromised files or databases.

7. Financial management and planning is simplified

Microsoft Excel is a well-known tool for creating and managing spreadsheets, which can be used by your HR and finance teams to monitor the incoming and outgoing assets for your company. The latest version of Excel also includes advanced reporting and data visualisation features, so you can present these stats easily.

Another app, Microsoft Planner, enables you to manage your company tasks with ease. A very user-friendly application, Planner also includes data visualisation tools that any member of your team can use, regardless of their IT literacy.

8. Mobile and web accessibility

A standout feature of the whole Microsoft 365 platform is its accessibility. There are web and mobile versions of all the core apps. This means users can work on any company-related tasks they may need to without the requirement of being present in the office. Each user can connect up to five iOS or Android mobile devices.

9. Build your own intranet

Collaboration between teammates on Microsoft 365 doesn’t stop at OneDrive, Word, and Teams. Microsoft SharePoint takes this one step further. Using SharePoint, users can actually create intranet sites to share and showcase work internally.

At its core, SharePoint is a platform for creating specific team and project sites that employees can visit, and collaborate on by sharing news, files, and other media. On a company-wide level, SharePoint can be used to create an intranet system to engage with teams both inside and outside of the office environment.

10. Presentation tools

You might remember Microsoft PowerPoint from school or college. But this presentation software has come a long way since the WordArt days. Now, it can be used to create professional business presentations that can be shared easily, and include interactive elements too.

The latest version of PowerPoint includes speech-to-text features, 3D animations, and even an AI-powered presenter coach that enables you to nail down your presentation techniques.

Summary

Microsoft 365 is the platform to beat. As a tool for business, it provides everything you need to plan future strategies, manage your business assets, communicate with your team and customers, and present new ideas.

Some of the apps included, such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Word, are market-leading services all on their own - coupled together, they create a software package that’s hard to beat.

When you’re setting up a business, you’ll no doubt have concerns about the costs involved. How much will payroll run to? What will the rent be on your business premises? What is my tax bill likely to be?

Once you start factoring in the costs of sourcing and running your technology stack, expenses can soon become unmanageable, particularly when soaring energy costs are making it harder to keep the office lights on.

Fortunately, there are plenty of free software options for small businesses out there, many of which will be more than enough for your needs before you even consider the paid tiers.

To help keep your business costs down, we've pulled together some of the best free software tools on the market, covering a range of use cases that most businesses will need from the get-go, whether that's business communications, productivity, or HR. They also provide some of the best Microsoft Office alternatives.

1. Slack

Best for business collaboration

www.slack.com

Whatever your industry, effective communication between your team members is almost certainly vital to the smooth running of your company.

Online communication tool Slack enables you to try its services for free for an unlimited period of time. If you choose this software, you can group your team messages according to channels, which enables those working on a particular project to communicate more effectively.

Under the terms of the free plan, you’ll have access to 10,000 of your team’s most recent messages. Other benefits include unlimited one-to-one voice and video calls for individuals, as well as 10 integrations with other apps such as Google Drive and Microsoft 365.

If you’d like access to a wider range of features, you can upgrade to one of the company’s paid plans, which offer services such as group video and voice calls.

2. Trello

Best for project management

www.trello.com

If you’re juggling numerous projects across your company, you could improve your efficiency with project management software Trello. Based on the Japanese model of Kanban management, Trello uses virtual boards that enable you to visualise your progress on key projects and then decide on your next steps. The most common analogy used to describe the software is a whiteboard covered in Post-It notes.

You can also assign tasks, establish timelines, create calendars, and view metrics. Once you’ve created a new task, every aspect of the task can be managed, tracked, and shared with other members of your team.

Another point in Trello’s favour is that the software has integrations with apps such as Confluence, Slack, Dropbox, and Evernote.

3. Wave

Best for business accounting

www.waveapps.com

For many small business owners, invoicing can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of the accounting process, Using the free version of Wave’s customisable software, you can create an unlimited number of invoices in any currency.

You can also view your transaction history with your customers, set up invoices reminders to email your customers when payment is due, and track sales tax. Another of the software’s most attractive features is the ability to set up recurring billing for repeat customers, which could drastically reduce the amount of time you spend chasing payments.

4. Skype

Best for videoconferencing

www.skype.com

With the rise of remote working, it’s essential that you choose the right video conferencing platform for your business’s needs. While a number of rivals have emerged in recent years, Skype’s free plan remains one of the most attractive on the market. As well as supporting one-to-one chats, the app enables you to hold group video calls with up to 100 participants.

A major advantage here is that you don’t need to download an app in order to use the service, and can do so through your browser.

5. Wix

Best for website building

www.wix.com

If your business requires a website (and in the digital age it almost certainly will), the free website-building tools offered by Wix may well come in handy. Operating through a simple drag-and-drop interface, the software enables you to add key elements to your site without any knowledge of coding, which makes the process far less demanding for beginners.

If you’re seeking a no-frills website, the company provides hundreds of design templates for free. Be aware however that the free version will automatically display ads for Wix on your company’s site.

6. LibreOffice

Best alternative to Microsoft Office

www.libreoffice.org

If you’re a fan of traditional Microsoft Office packages such as Word, Powerpoint, and Excel, but would rather avoid the price tag, LibreOffice offers an attractive, free alternative.

Its main services are Writer (word processing), Impress (presentations), Calc (spreadsheets), Base (database), and Draw (vector diagrams). As the successor to OpenOffice, LibreOffice is compatible with a range of document formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

7. Thunderbird

Best email platform

www.thunderbird.net

Whatever your organisation's size or industry, sending and receiving email is likely to be at the heart of your operation. Although arguably less well-known than some of its rivals, free email app Thunderbird is likely to offer all the features you need to manage email communications across your business.

Its main features include a mail account setup wizard, a quick filter toolbar, tabbed email, smart folders, and an add-ons manager. There is also a one-click address book feature, which enables you to add people to your contact list by clicking on an icon next to their name when they send you a message.

If you’re sharing large documents, you can also speed up the transfer by uploading these to an online storage provider and sharing the link.

8. Duplicati

Best business backup suite

www.duplicati.com

Open source backup software Duplicati enables you to back up files and folders through strong Advanced Encryption Standard/AES-256 encryption. It will also save space across your network with incremental backups and removal of duplicate data.

If you opt for Duplicati, you can run updates through the web-based interface or via the command line interface. The software is configured by a web interface that runs in any browser, and therefore can be accessed from anywhere.

Duplicati is compatible with Windows, MacOS, and Linux operating systems.

9. Mailchimp

Best email marketing platform

www.mailchimp.com

While the term “spamming” evokes a sense of dread in most legitimate business owners, email marketing can nevertheless be a key to the successful operation of many companies.

Mailchimp is an American marketing automation platform and email marketing service. Using the free version, you’ll have access to a number of features such as one-step automation, which will deliver messages to your customers depending on who they are and how they interact with your company.

This version enables you to send messages to a single audience of up to 2,000 contacts. Although this is likely to be sufficient for many small businesses, you can increase these figures by upgrading to one of the company’s paid plans.

10. Freshteam

Best HR management platform

www.freshworks.com

Smart HR software Freshteam offers services such as applicant tracking, onboarding, and time-off management. Free for up to 50 employees, the company’s Sprouts plan includes a dedicated recruitment team inbox, a basic careers site, and an employee directory.

If you’re unsure whether Freshteam is right for your business, or have questions over which plan to choose, the company offers a free demo of its services. The free plan is also available as iOS and Android mobile apps.

Inserting a checkbox in Microsoft Word or Excel, or Google Docs is a handy way of turning a document into something more interactive. Whether you're making a to-do list for yourself and your team, asking colleagues for approval or agreement, or even simply reminding yourself which party supplies to purchase, you can reduce a lot of needless back and forth with a simple checkbox.

In this step-by-step guide, we explain how to add checkboxes in Microsoft Word. However, if you’re using one of the best Microsoft Office alternatives, you’ll be happy to hear we also cover inserting checkboxes in Google Docs.

Inserting a checkbox in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Google Docs

Before inserting checkboxes in Microsoft Word and Excel, you must add the Developer tab to your top ribbon, as it’s not visible by default. The process is the same in both Word and Excel.

You should now have access to the Developer tab in your top ribbon in Word and Excel.

There are no such preliminary steps to follow with Docs. But if creating checklists in either Word, Excel, or Docs, you may want to write up your list items before following the steps below.

Users with editing permissions are able to tick and untick the checkbox, which is useful if, say, the list tracks team members’ progress on individual tasks.

The default symbol for a selected checkbox is an X in a square outline. Should you want to change this to a tick or other symbols, select a checkbox, and click Properties in the Developer tab. At the bottom, under Check Box Properties, click the Change button, next to Checked symbol.

To replace the X with a tick, select the Windings 2 font at the top, locate and click the tick symbol, then click OK.

Form controls checkboxes can be checked and unchecked in a single click, whereas ActiveX checkboxes are edited using more advanced Developer tools.

To edit the list items next to Form control checkboxes, right-click the checkbox, then select the default text by clicking on it. Delete the existing text and type in your own. Click the return button on your keyboard to save.

For ActiveX control checkboxes, right-click the checkbox and select Checkbox Object, then Edit. This allows you to delete and retype the item next to the checkbox. Press your keyboard Return button to save.

Alternatively, you may want your checklist items written in cells. If so, list your items in one column, before adding one checkbox at a time into corresponding cells to the left, as per the previous step.

Inserting check boxes into Google Docs can be a bit finicky, and there are a handful of optional steps you can take to get the exact look you're after. For example, there isn't an option to remove the strikethrough formatting for checklists, but you can use a table to get around it.

You may want to place the checkboxes and list items closer together by dragging the column divider to the left with your cursor.

To remove table borders, select the whole table and click the Border width icon, usually located under the three dots icon at the right end of the top ribbon.

Then, select 0 pt and the table borders should blend in the page background colour. You can now tick and untick the boxes without any text strikethroughs.

You should now be able to insert checkboxes and use them effectively across Word, Excel, and Google Docs.

Using Developer controls is the easiest way to work with checkboxes in both Word and Excel. In Google Docs, checkboxes are easy to set up but may require optional table editing if you don’t want strikethroughs in your list.

If you’re using checkboxes to track tasks in your team, why not have a look at our best online collaboration tools buying guide for more software options? You can also figure out which major platform suits you best by reading our Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace comparison.

Learning how to insert and edit footnotes in Microsoft Word is a useful skill, as it can help you efficiently manage references throughout your document. Word is included in Microsoft 365, which is one of the best online collaboration tools for businesses. It enables you to seamlessly create and format footnotes and enables collaborators to track changes and add footnotes of their own in real-time.

In this article, we’re breaking down the process of creating and editing footnotes into simple steps, so you don’t need any prior knowledge of Microsoft Word to achieve this task.

Step 1: Select the reference text

To start, you need a string of text already written in the Word document, which the footnote will reference. Simply place your cursor on the text where you want to insert the footnote and click and drag to highlight it. This is usually at the end of a sentence or phrase.

If you highlight a full string of text, Word will insert the footnote at the end by default.

Step 2: Click the References tab on the ribbon

The Microsoft Word ribbon is the horizontal strip at the top of your document that’s divided into tabs including File, Home, Insert, and others. Click on the References tab to open a series of commands underneath.

If the commands suddenly disappear, you may not have your ribbon set to always display. Click the References tab again, and the commands should now be visible. Depending on which version of Word you’re using, you can click on the downward arrow at the far-right end of the ribbon and select Always show Ribbon or click the thumbtack icon to have the commands always be visible.

On a Windows PC, you can also press Ctrl+Alt+F, which directly inserts a footnote on the selected text. If you choose to do this, skip ahead to step 4.

Step 3: Click Insert Footnote

Your References ribbon is divided into sections including Table of Contents, Footnotes, and others. In the Footnotes section, click the Insert Footnote button.

The placement of the footnote should be retained from Step 1. However, if it’s been lost, simply undo the insertion of the footnote by clicking Undo in the Home tab or by pressing Ctrl+Z on a Windows PC. Repeat Step 1 before clicking Insert Footnote.

Step 4: Write the footnote

When you insert a footnote, Word automatically takes you to the bottom of the page to write it. By default, it matches the superscript number or symbol in the text with the one next to the footnote.

Word also takes care of the footnotes’ numerical progression as you add more to your document. This is a great advantage of the footnotes tool versus manually creating references in the footer.

Once you’ve written your footnote, you can edit it at any time by clicking on it.

Step 5: Format the footnote

To format one or more footnotes on a page, select the footnote text. A format ribbon will appear with options to change the font, text colour, paragraph spacing, and more.

To format all footnotes in a document, you need to use Styles. Click the Home tab, then click the downward arrow in the Styles section to open a list of style elements. If you don’t see Footnotes listed, click the Options button at the bottom. Under Select styles to show, choose All styles. Under Select how list is sorted, choose Alphabetical. Click OK. Footnote Reference and Footnote Text should now be visible in the Styles list.

The footnote reference is the number or symbol appearing in your main text, whereas the footnote text is the content usually placed at the bottom of the page. To edit either of these elements, click on the arrow next to it on the Styles list and select Modify. Here, you can change the font, font size, and other format settings. Click OK to apply your changes to all past and subsequent footnote references or texts in the document.

Step 6: Change footnote options

You can further personalise your footnotes by clicking on the corner arrow in the Footnotes section of the References tab. Here, you can choose whether to display footnotes at the bottom of the page or under the text and whether you want them arranged in columns. You can also change the number format or symbol used for references and opt to restart footnote numbering on each page or section.

Step 7 (optional): Navigate through footnotes

In the References tab, under Footnotes, you can use the Next footnote and Previous footnote commands to navigate through the footnotes in your document—a useful shortcut if you’re proofreading, for instance.

Also, if your cursor is placed on a text that’s referenced with a footnote, the Show footnote command will take you straight to the footnote text, which could help save time in reference-heavy documents.

Summary

Footnotes in Microsoft Word come in handy if you’re looking for a structured and efficient way to organise references in your document. Inserting a new footnote shouldn’t take more than a few seconds whether you’re using the References tab or a keyboard shortcut. Text formatting options are available through the Styles tool, while structural settings, including footnote location and numbering, are available in References.

The best employee experience tools are designed to help HR and company managers create the perfect workplace and maximise productivity.

The best employee experience tools right now

Click the links below to go to the provider's website:

1. Oasis
2. 15Five
3. Fond
4. Officevibe
5. Qualtrics
6. Kudos

There are numerous different platforms available, and many include features like employee surveys, streamlined communication, team sentiment analysis, and straightforward reporting tools.

In general, companies use employee experience tools to reduce wasted time and improve the working environment. When a comprehensive modern system is deployed, it will often replace numerous independent systems that didn’t work well together. On top of this, many platforms include onboarding training, employee benefits management, and tools to make payment and holidays easier.

In this article, we look at the best employee experience tools available on the market. Most of these programs have some form of demo or free trial, so you can test out an option before committing to a paid plan.

The best employee experience tools available

1. Oasis

The best HR outsourcing service

REASONS TO BUY

• Comprehensive features
• Self-service platform
• Fortune 500 benefits

Oasis is a Paychex-owned Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) and provides a full range of full HR solutions for business, to cover the entire employee lifecycle.

This means covering everything from recruitment to onboarding, payroll and benefits, as well as development and training. Oasis also ensures regulatory compliance and mitigating risk.

Oasis does this through a combination of self-service computer software for easier employee management, to personalised support to ensure you're getting the help you need.

Performance management also ensures that employee development works in line with your business strategy.

Because Oasis is part of Paychex, which has offices across the US, the company can offer competitive benefits and insurance packages for employees on a par with those offered by Fortune 500 companies.

2. 15Five

One of the best employee experience tools

REASONS TO BUY

• Powerful feedback management tools
• Facilitates employee acknowledgement where required
• Friendly, helpful customer service team
• Great goal setting and monitoring tools

REASONS TO AVOID

• Limited integrations with third-party software
• Some features are a little clunky
• Could be expensive for large teams

15Five offers one of the best employee experience tools available. It’s designed for businesses that want to optimise the work experience for remote employees and teams, and it features a great selection of tools to achieve this goal.

For example, 15Five has a simple interface that allows employees to provide feedback about the working experience. Using this data, you can transform the employee experience. Various management tools are also included to bring your team closer together and make it more productive. You can even create, track, and edit team goals and long-term aims.

Those who want to test the 15Five experience will benefit from the comprehensive free trial. Paid plans charge per person, per month, and custom enterprise solutions are also available.

3. Fond

A powerful platform designed to help businesses

REASONS TO BUY

• Innovative rewards-based system
• Allow employees to recognise exceptional performance
• Powerful data-tracking tools

REASONS TO AVOID

• A limited selection of tools
• No employee feedback features
• Custom prices can be high

Fond is a powerful platform designed to help businesses recognise and reward productive employees. For many leaders, it has become a crucial employee experience tool due to its advanced features and employee-centric nature.

This platform has quite a unique rewards program. Employees can reward each other with points for doing a good job or working above and beyond expectations. These points can be accumulated and then redeemed for rewards and/or other perks via the Fond platform.

With Fond, you will have access to a selection of performance analytics tools and corporate discounts on things like gym memberships and entertainment. Do note, however, that prices are developed on a case-by-case basis, which means you will need to contact the company for a custom quote.

4. Officevibe

A simple yet powerful employee experience tool

REASONS TO BUY

• Affordable employee experience software
• Includes various feedback tools
• Supports collaboration and team building
• Integrates with Slack, email, and SMS platforms

REASONS TO AVOID

• Relatively limited employee experience tools
• Navigating within the platform can be confusing
• Survey questions can be redundant and repetitive

Officevibe is a simple yet powerful employee experience tool with a focus on team development and collaboration. When used correctly, the platform can help build better employee relationships and improve productivity throughout the workplace.

Officevibe uses basic feedback tools to collect information from employees. If required, anonymous surveys can be created to protect employee privacy. Using the information collected, team managers can then work alongside employees to address any issues.

On top of this, the standard version of Officevibe is absolutely free. A premium plan charges per user per month and offers among the best prices available.

5. Qualtrics

One of the world’s most popular employee experience platforms

REASONS TO BUY

• Powerful, employee-centric platform
• Includes versatile management features
• Helps identify organisational blind spots
• Includes onboarding and training tools

REASONS TO AVOID

• Expensive, with no free trial
• Customer support can be slow
• Confusing to get started with
• Complicated user interface

Qualtrics is one of the world’s most popular employee experience management platforms. It has a selection of advanced tools and is designed for organisations and companies of all sizes.

For example, Qualtrics has the resources for leaders to improve employee engagement and satisfaction, streamline the hiring and firing processes, and gather and act on employee feedback. You will also benefit from various onboarding tools, a benefits optimiser, and a selection of employee development features.

Note that Qualtrics doesn’t openly advertise their prices so you will need to contact a sales rep for a custom quote.

6. Kudos

A unique employee experience tool

REASONS TO BUY

• Private social network
• Enables employee recognition
• Desktop and mobile support
• API enables integration with other tools

REASONS TO AVOID

• Limited set of tools
• Confusing interface for beginners
• Platform customisation is difficult

Kudos is slightly different from the other best employee experience tools in this article. Rather than being a feedback platform or direct monitoring program, it actually works as a private social network.

In this way, Kudos empowers your employees to recognise their workmates and their contributions. Exceptional performance can be rewarded, and it becomes easier than ever to build a strong, cohesive team.

Research suggests that a lack of recognition and/or appreciation is one of the main reasons for employees quitting their job. It makes sense, then, that Kudos could benefit you and your team.

The Microsoft Office suite is among the best online collaboration tools with numerous useful features, not least the ribbon.

The ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the screen that appears in various Microsoft Office programs, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote, and enables users to intuitively find tools in a minimal number of clicks.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to use the Microsoft Office ribbon and the various features it has to offer so you and your team can efficiently use Microsoft’s programs.

What is the Microsoft Office ribbon?

All versions of Microsoft Office since Office 2007 have had the ribbon in some form. It appears at the top of the screen underneath the file name and enables you to choose between tabs that display the tools—called commands—you can access. Each tab is divided into groups, and within each group is a range of commands available within that category.

Some tabs, such as Home and Insert, are found on the ribbon in all Office apps, though the specific commands in these tabs differ between apps.

Further along the ribbon, you’ll find tabs specific to the Office app you’re using. In Word, for example, one tab is called References and includes all the commands you need to add footnotes, endnotes, and quotations to your document. Excel has a Formulas tab so you can add automated calculations to your spreadsheet, and PowerPoint has tabs for Transitions and Animation to make your presentation visually appealing.

For the purposes of this article, we'll discuss how to use the ribbon in Microsoft Word. Since there are several different tabs and many different options under each one, we’ll walk you through the tabs you’ll likely use most often.

Step 1: Use the Home tab to format text

The Home tab in Microsoft Word has all the basic commands for formatting text.

For example, you can change your text’s font, size, or colour from this tab. You can also underline it or put it in bold, italics, or strikethrough. You can do this by highlighting the text you want to change in your document and clicking the appropriate command.

There is also a list of preset styles that change multiple properties of the highlighted text simultaneously. You can, for example, apply a predefined Header style to all the headers in your document to give them a consistent style without having to manually change the font size and colour.

Step 2: Use the Insert tab to add page numbers or symbols to your document

The tab next to the Home tab in Word is titled Insert. It enables you to add various elements to your document.

For example, you can add page numbers by clicking on the Page Number menu option. A pop-up window will appear from which you can choose the placement of the numbers. There’s also a drop-down option called Format Page Numbers, which enables you to select other forms of numbering such as letters or Roman numerals.

If you want to type a symbol that isn’t on your computer’s keyboard, go to the Insert tab and click on the Advanced Symbol option. This will open a window where you can select from a wide range of symbols.

Step 3: Using the Layout tab

Another useful tab is the Layout tab, which offers many options to change the look and shape of your document. For example, the Columns command enables you to split highlighted text into multiple columns, which is useful if you’re creating a newsletter or a magazine.

You can also use the Orientation button to switch between portrait and landscape modes and the Size drop-down menu to change paper size. This is useful if you’re creating a document for an international audience, as US letter paper is different in dimension from the equivalent A4 paper size used outside the US.

Step 4 (optional): Customising the ribbon

Office gives you the freedom to customise your ribbon if you wish. You can change the order of tabs, rename tabs, and even add custom tabs with your icons of choice.

To open the Customise the Ribbon window in Windows, right-click on any empty space in the ribbon and click Customise the Ribbon. On a Mac, click on Word in the top left corner, select Preferences, then go to Ribbon & Toolbar.

In the Customise the Ribbon pop-up box, you’ll see a list of the tabs you currently have active. Here, you can drag tabs and commands to re-order them. You can also use the buttons at the bottom of the list to rename the selected tab and add custom tabs. If you create a custom tab, you can then select which commands you want to add to your new tab.

Step 5 (optional): Show or hide the ribbon

Sometimes, you may want to hide the ribbon to clear space. The easiest way to do this is to double-click on the name of the currently selected tab. The tab names will remain, but the options underneath them will disappear. Click on a tab again to open it back up.

There is also a Ribbon Display Options icon found in the lower right of the ribbon in Office 2021 and in the top right in Office 2013 through 2019. Click on this to choose whether you want the ribbon to always be shown or if you want to automatically hide the ribbon when you’re not using it.

Summary

Once you’ve mastered the Microsoft Office ribbon, you’ll find that working on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations is a much smoother experience. You may even be able to customise the ribbon to suit the particular needs of your work.

Microsoft 365 ranks highly in our list of the best online collaboration tools. The functionality of Microsoft Word is a big reason why the Microsoft Office suite remains so popular after all this time.

Knowing how to create watermarks in Microsoft Word can make your documents compelling yet professional. Watermarks are often used to protect confidential information, claim ownership of a document, or indicate the validity of a legal document.

Watermarking in all versions of Microsoft Word is an incredibly useful feature for communicating the business nature and constraints of a document. The most common examples are to indelibly mark a document as confidential, private or draft. As Microsoft Word allows you to use pictures as a watermark, you can use a company logo or signature picture to help readers know the originator and owner of a document.

Watermarks in Microsoft Word can be text or image. You can use one of Microsoft Word’s template watermarks, or you can set your own text or use your own image. We’ve outlined all these options below.

Note that while this guide focuses on Microsoft Word 2021, the steps for adding watermarks are almost identical for earlier versions of Word. The creation of a watermark in Microsoft Word 2010 and Word 2013, for example, is exactly the same with one small location difference.

Step 1: Inserting a template watermark

Word has pre-made watermark templates for common terms like confidential, draft, and urgent.

To insert a template watermark, click on the Design tab at the top of the screen. There, you’ll find the Watermark dropdown. Click on this dropdown and select the template you want from the list. This will apply the watermark to all of the pages of your document.

Step 2: Placing a watermark onto a single page

Sometimes you might want to place a watermark only on certain pages of your document. You can do this by going to the Design menu as you did in the step above and choosing the Watermark dropdown. But instead of clicking the watermark you want, right-click it and select Insert at Current Document Position.

This will add the watermark to the current page only, so you’ll need to already be on the page where you want to add the watermark.

Step 3: Creating a custom text watermark

The standard textual watermarks provided are good for the majority of occasions. However, you don’t have to stick with the small selection of text watermarks included with Word. You can create your own watermark text and format it as you please.

To create your own, choose Custom Watermark in the Watermark menu.

Select the Text Watermark radio button. You now have text, font, size, colour, and layout options. Change the options as you see fit and click Apply to see your changes. You can decide between a diagonal or horizontal watermark and choose whether the watermark will be semi-transparent.

Step 4: Inserting an image watermark

You may wish to use the watermark for other purposes, such as to brand every page using special text, with an emblem, or company logo picture. Microsoft Word enables you to insert customised texts and pictures, and you can use an image for a more elaborate watermark. This is available in the same Custom Watermark menu in the Watermark dropdown.

Choose Picture Watermark and click Select Picture. You can now choose between images on your computer, images from OneDrive, or perform a search for images on Bing.

Once you’ve selected your preferred image, you can set its scale and choose whether it will be washed out.

Hit Apply to see your new watermark appear in the document.

Step 5: Adjusting the placement of a watermark

If you want to adjust the position of a text watermark, you can usually just click on it to edit it. However, for image watermarks and some text watermarks, you won’t be able to select the watermark directly.

Instead, you’ll need to edit the header of the document. To edit the header, go to the Insert menu and find the Header dropdown. Click on this dropdown and choose Edit Header.

Now that you’re in header editing mode, you will be able to select the watermark. You can drag it around the page and alter its size and shape. Changes to your watermark will be reflected on all pages.

When you’re happy with how your watermark looks, press Close Header and Footer to return to editing your document.

Step 6: Removing a watermark

You can remove a watermark by following the step above and editing the header. Choose the Header dropdown from the Insert menu and select Edit Header. Then, click on the watermark and press the delete key on your keyboard to remove it completely from the document.

Summary

Microsoft Word offers multiple ways to insert watermarks into documents. You can use a set template watermark, a custom text watermark, or an image. You can also move the watermark around and adjust how it appears on the document’s pages.

While Microsoft Office still rules the roost in terms of office suites, there are also many alternatives to Microsoft Office. We like Google Workspace for its tight integration with other Google products and Zoho Workplace for its long list of useful apps.

The rise of remote work and the ever-evolving office landscape mean small businesses need to be flexible. As a result, many organizations now have as many employees working remotely as they do on the premises.

Thankfully, Google Workspace offers a cloud-based solution packed with features that cater to small businesses with hybrid teams. 

Workspace is Google’s suite of cloud computing and productivity tools allowing team members to share documents, collaborate on projects, join meetings remotely, and much more.

This article dives into the top ten features of Google Workspace, previously known as G Suite, for small businesses and employees, as well as explaining why it stands out as a strong alternative to Microsoft Office.

1. Gmail – AI-enhanced email service

While the standard Gmail service offers a robust set of features for individuals and businesses alike, including spam filtering, customizable filters, message scheduling and snoozing, and a handy right-click menu,  the Workspace version of Gmail takes things a step further for businesses.

Gmail is not an island within Workspace. It integrates seamlessly with other tools like Google Calendar and Google Chat. Schedule meetings directly from an email or jump into a quick chat with a colleague about a project without having to leave your inbox.

Because this is Google we are talking about here, of course algorithms are included in the package to help you automate manual tasks. Smart Reply and Smart Compose can save you having to write out every word of an email, with grammar suggestions to ensure your messages are free of typos.

We rank Gmail among the best email providers out there, read our Gmail review for more details.

2. Drive – Secure cloud-based file management

Drive is Google’s cloud storage service, offering users quick and secure access to their Workspace-based files wherever to their Workspace-based files. Drive’s business focused tier, the Business Starter package, provides customers with an initial 30GB of storage space per user. The Business Starter tier expands this to 2TB per user, and Business Plus gives you 5TB.

One thing to note is that with each of these packages, the stated storage capacity is pooled together  and shared across all users at the organization.

For when you need to collaborate with team members, shared drives allow users to organize files and projects with a wide range of access and permissions configurations. To learn more about Workspace’s cloud-based storage option, check out our Google Drive Review.

3. Docs – Smart word processing

Docs is Google’s web-based word processor, part of its Editors office suite that also includes Sheets (for spreadsheets), Slides (for presentations), and Forms (for surveys). At the heart of each service is the concept of real-time collaboration, with 10 people able to work on documents at the same time and up to 200 permitted to view simultaneously.

Version history helps track changes by users, meaning that edits can be easily reversed. The blue Share button in the top right of the screen sets permissions on who can view the document while also providing a link for anyone to read the document. Crucially, the suite’s various apps can open and edit file formats from the equivalent Microsoft services.

4. Calendar – Integrated video conferencing

Designed to integrate seamlessly with other Workspace tools like Gmail, Drive, and Meet, Calendar gives employees the ability to not only stay on top of their own diary, but get oversight on the availability of their colleagues.

Along with day, week, month and year view, Calendar also presents the handy option of displaying a user’s full schedule, listing all upcoming events on one scrollable page.

To put a date in the diary, simply hit the 'create' button; select whether you're adding an event, task or reminder; and then fill in the rest of the information. You'll see that this includes the ability to add guests and location, along with the option to integrate video conferencing.

5. Work Insights – Digestible business analytics

Every good business needs detailed reporting, and Work Insights is one Workspace feature that should not be overlooked. Whether for a manager, IT administrator or HR officer, Work Insights can be useful to provide oversight on how staff are performing and engaging with Workspace.

Using charts and data that will seem second-nature to anyone familiar with Google Analytics, Insights can provide information on levels of adoption, collaboration and productivity.

The reporting can also show service-specific data, making it easy to spot staff preferences. For example, it might highlight that while 98% of staff appear happy using Gmail, only 67% are regularly using Sheets.

6. Apps Script – Low-code automation

Apps Script is your secret weapon for automation and one of the most underrated products within Google’s productivity suit.  Apps Script is a low-code development platform built into Workspace, allowing you to create custom solutions without needing a dedicated programmer.

Businesses can use Apps Script to help synergize other applications services within Workspace. Users can use Apps Script to write custom functions for Sheets and integrate it with other Google services such as Calendar, Drive, Forms, and Gmail. For example, a script can turn submissions in Google Forms into new tasks in Sheets.

Repetitive tasks that normally bog down staff can be easily automated, such as automatically sending follow-up emails, formatting data in Sheets, or generating reports.

Businesses can leverage Apps Script to build simple web apps for a wide variety of purposes including order tracking, onboarding, or project management, all within Workspace.

7. Vault – Easy audit report generation

Vault is Google’s archiving service, which helps businesses navigate the complex and ever-changing world of data policy.

One of the first tasks for Vault users is to outline retention policies that will determine which users can access what data, and how long it will be stored, based on the requirements of your business.

Vault can also be used to compile audit reports, as well as exporting content into a range of formats. Unsurprisingly, Vault’s search capabilities are highly sophisticated, enabling users to search by file type, user, date and keyword.

 8. Chat – Private rooms of up to 8,000 users

Google Chat, along with its video equivalent Meet (see below), has replaced Hangouts as Google’s main business messaging tool.

Giving users the ability to directly message contacts, the service can be used to send private messages to a single person, or to a wider group via the room function, which can support external users and up to 8,000 members. Users can access Chat via a standalone app or directly through Gmail.

9. Meet – Video conferencing designed for presenting 

Video conferencing has taken on a renewed level of importance in business, as remote working transforms from a niche perk to an established workplace norm.

Meet is Workspace’s video meeting service, and is an intuitive and easy-to-use application that works seamlessly with other Workspace tools, meaning you can join a Meet directly from Gmail or Calendar.

All video meetings are encrypted for added security, include screen-sharing and presenting functions, and feature adjustable layout settings. What’s more, the Enterprise edition comes with a maximum of 250 participants, and even includes dial-in phone numbers for those unable to join via the link.

10. Endpoint – Easy integration with personal devices

Endpoint may not enjoy the fanfare of some higher-profile Workspace services, but for businesses it can prove to be a vital feature. Intended to keep your data secure, Endpoint monitors and manages all devices registered with the company. Security requirements can be tailored to company policy, such as requiring strong passwords of certain lengths and characters.

Handily, employees wishing to use their own personal devices for work can do so without risking security breaches thanks to Endpoint’s ability to work on a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) basis. Crucially, devices can be locked and even wiped in the event of loss or damage.

Summary

Now that you’ve read about some of the top features of Google Workspace, you may wish to read up on other useful tools and services for small businesses. With that in mind, check out our reviews of Microsoft Teams and OneDrive.

Online graphic design and publishing company Canva has announced it will be expanding its product offerings with a new suite of Office software.

Canva Visual Worksuite is being marketed as an all-in-one visual communication platform that will include web apps for document creation, presentations, tools for editing videos and quickly creating social media posts, as well as a built-in website builder.

The idea behind Canva Docs is that it will offer consumers and businesses a full document editor but with a focus on design elements.

Like Google Docs, it will be accessed online through a computer or mobile and includes collaboration features such as comments and assigning of tasks.

It also brings with it a feature Canva calls ‘Docs to Decks’ which allows users to write their content in Docs and convert it into a presentation with one click.

Canva Docs is currently in beta and is accepting sign-ups for the waiting list. All other apps included in the new Canva Visual Worksuite are available to use now.

Canva Whiteboards offer design-led brainstorming tools for teams looking to collaborate visually. There are different presets for different tasks such as brainstorming, mind mapping, taking meeting notes, building flowcharts, developing a gap analysis and more.

Presentations is an app for building PowerPoint and Google Slides-like documents with different modes for regular presentations, talking presentations, and mobile-first presentations which adopt a portrait format for smartphone viewing.

Businesses looking to improve their presence on social media could benefit from its tool dedicated to building visually striking posts without the need for an in-house or agency graphic design team.

There are presets for all kinds of design work a business could need, from Facebook ads to all the different types of Instagram posts.

Canva videos also have the same potential to ease the burden of producing online content for businesses without any expertise in the area. Video templates and simple editing tools are available to create many different types of online content, from LinkedIn ads to YouTube videos.

Canva’s new website builder allows businesses to easily build simple websites for a variety of purposes such as advertising services or promoting an event.

There are a number of services dedicated to modular, drag-and-drop-style web building like WordPress and Squarespace whose technology is more mature and are better-tooled, though.

For simple tasks though, some businesses already familiar with Canva’s user interface may find it easier to use its new proprietary platform.

One of its capabilities involves converting documents, presentations, and PDFs straight into a responsive web page that can have its own domain.

Giving a platform to creators

The launch of Canva Visual Worksuite also brings with it two platforms that will help creators and developers earn money for their work.

The Canva Creators Programme will see designers being able to contribute their work to the Canva marketplace and earn money for their content and templates they produce. Photographers and illustrators can also sell their work for use across the new suite of productivity apps.

Canva has also opened up its design engine for developers to create new apps and functionality that can enhance the user experience in the Worksuite.

“Some of our most recent apps and integrations include Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Bynder – and this is just the start,” it said in an announcement.

“As more and more developers build innovative apps in Canva, you'll be able to complete entire workflows within Canva. Adding new elements to your designs will be richer and more functional – for example, our QR Code app lets you instantly add a QR code to any design, no coding required.”

An update to Windows Terminal coming this week will deliver users the ability to create custom themes for the command-line interface (CLI).

Version 1.16 of Windows Terminal Preview will allow users with a little programming experience to customise the look of the CLI’s window with a variety of colours, backgrounds, and themes.

It replaces the minimal customisation options that have previously been included in Windows’ default CLI for years.

Customisation is only available through the modification of a JSON file, but this will be made accessible through the Terminal's user interface (UI) via the Appearance page in the settings dropdown menu.

The programming of the custom themes will be familiar to those with coding knowledge - it’s a case of adding properties to the ‘themes’ object and setting values for each, such as hex codes for specific colours.

Customisation options include separate designs for tabs, tab rows, and the window itself, each of which supports different properties with which users can experiment.

There are other minor cosmetic changes to the default colour scheme, too, and Microsoft has also changed Terminal to a dark theme by default.

In addition to the visual changes brought in version 1.16, Microsoft has made the previously experimental text rendering engine, introduced in version 1.13 and only enabled through a special command, the default for all Windows Terminal profiles.

“The new renderer is more performant and now supports additional pixel shaders (including the retro effect), bold text, and underline/overline/hyperlink lines,” said Kayla Cinnamon program manager 2, Windows Terminal, console, command line, and Cascadia Code, in a blog post.

“If your machine doesn’t have a GPU, or you’re remoting to a virtual machine that doesn’t have a GPU, it will fall back to a more performant mode that doesn’t require hardware support.”

Microsoft has been planning to make Windows Terminal the default terminal for its operating system since December 2021, it said at the time.

This was made official at the end of August when it was enabled as standard in the Windows 11 Insider preview build 25188.

It replaced the Windows Console Host which has been the default terminal emulator since Windows began, Cinnamon said, tasked with bringing programs like Command Prompt and PowerShell to life.

“Over the course of 2022, we are planning to make Windows Terminal the default experience on Windows 11 devices,” she said.

“We will start with the Windows Insider programme and start moving through rings until we reach everyone on Windows 11. We would love to have your feedback while we are working on this to help iron out all of the bugs and ensure everyone has a great experience with Terminal.”

Slack has announced an update to its Workflow Builder that adds new tools for automating tasks within channels and improvements to workflow visibility.

Chief among the additions to workflows is the ability to use conditional logic within the Workflow Builder. If-then statements, a stalwart of simple coding, will allow workflow creators to send users down paths depending on the answers they provide, streamlining workflows that can produce different results based on input conditions, such as holiday request forms. Slack expects this to be available in early 2023.

Other new features include tools for automatic channel creation and alerts to the operator of a workflow when it has received a request, as well as the expansion of steps that feed into Slack-integrated apps.

Users will now also be able to easily copy-and-paste workflow links into channels and direct messages. Once sent, the link will expand into a full workflow preview, which can be run directly and pinned in the channel for ease of access.

Workflow Builder is a tool within Slack, that allows users to create and customise a series of automated steps within their business’ Slack channels. For example, a workflow could be set up to send an automatic welcome message the first time a user is added to a channel, and provide useful onboarding links.

Since Slack introduced Workflow Builder in 2019, over 540 million workflows have been launched, and this has grown by more than 230% in just the last year. In a blog post announcing the update, the company stated that 10.5 million users run workflows in Slack each week.

Slack has taken a number of steps in the past few years to improve its productivity functions, and allow business users to do as much of their work as possible within the app, to reach their aim of being a ‘digital HQ’ for companies. This has included the introduction of Slack Connect for external business communication, or the upcoming release of multi-person screen sharing within huddles.

“This is part of our goal to make automation accessible for all users, period,” stated Steve Wood, the senior vice president of product, platform at Slack.

“These updates are happening at a critical time when businesses are watching their bottom line. When every minute counts, it’s important to bring the automation creation process closer to the people who are actually going to use it. That’s the measure of a successful digital HQ and where the magic happens.”

IT management software provider N-able has announced the launch of its new N-able Cloud User Hub, following its acquisition of Spinpanel back in July.

A multi-tenant Microsoft 365 management and automation platform, Cloud User Hub is designed for Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers and allows users to automate the management and security of all Microsoft tenants, users, and licenses.

This functionality is available within a single, unified hub to minimise overall complexity, improve efficiency, as well as help MSP partners scale their business, N-able said in an announcement.

“Adopting and managing cloud resources is becoming a larger part of the MSP business, which is why we want to help our partners simplify their cloud management experience,” explained Mike Adler, chief technology and product officer.

“If done right, adopting and managing cloud resources can lead to scalability, higher efficiency, and productivity for MSPs and their customers.”

With Cloud User Hub now a part of the N-able portfolio, technicians can perform common tasks across all 365 applications, customers, and users, as well as enable advanced automation, all from a single control panel.

The offering also features a security-first approach through granular role-based access controls, as well as comprehensive audit logging for all actions performed within the platform.

Ultimately, N-able says Cloud User Hub will help SMBs achieve faster resolution times, reduced ticket escalation, and strengthened security posture.

“Cloud User Hub empowers users to tame managing the Microsoft 365 cloud by providing automation and simplicity,” Adler continued.

“Last month, Microsoft announced robust growth in its cloud-services demand, and with the channel spending huge amounts of time within the Microsoft environment, we want to continue helping our partners to streamline that experience, along with the management and transition to the cloud, as much as we can.”

There are many types of printer, including laser, inkjet and LED. There can be no doubt that of the three, inkjet printers are the simplest to understand on a technical level.

Despite this simplicity, they are actually predated by laser printers. Invented in 1976 by the Hewlett Packard corporation, it was with the rise of the personal computer in the 1990s that inkjet printers really took off in popularity.

Today, the best inkjet printers can compete with laser printers in terms of speed and reliability, while remaining one of the most affordable printer types in terms of initial purchase.

How do inkjet printers work?

As each sheet of paper is pulled through an inkjet printer, the printing arm moves across it at great speed. As the arm moves, tiny droplets of ink are shot onto the paper, which together make up the text or image that is being printed.

The dots are so small that, to the naked eye, the ink on a page that's come out of an inkjet printer appears to be solid colours. Under a magnifying glass, however, it's revealed to consist of a huge mesh of the dots.

As the paper comes out of the printer, it's pulled through two heated rollers, which rapidly dry the ink to prevent the finished result from smudging, or staining the hands of the user who retrieves the page. This is why pages are hot to the touch when they're first printed.

As a result of the method, especially dark pages produced from an inkjet printer might be damp to the touch, and may require special care for a short time after printing.

The speed at which an inkjet printer can produce finished pages varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but for several years have been capable of up to 75 pages per minute.

Inkjet printers will need ink cartridge replacements, which may be grouped as colour cartridges and black cartridges, or separated into each of the four colours that inkjet printers use. You may have noticed that instead of red, green and blue (RGB), printer ink comes in cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). But why?

On a computer monitor, the colours are made up of many millions of pixels, each with its own RGB value. Because the default state of a pixel is 0, or black, a computer adds light to each pixel until it hits white, or any one of the 16,777,216 colours in between. This is known as an additive colour model.

For printing, on the other hand, one starts with white — the blank page — and must darken this to produce colour. This is a subtractive model, and for this purpose the colour blocks CMYK mix to produce the best range of individual colours.

Inkjet printers use printer cartridges, which contain the liquid ink necessary for the print process. Laser and LED printers, on the other hand, use something called toner. This is colour powder, which is put onto the paper using negative charge and then dried rapidly with heat.

Ink cartridges have often been considered a great drain on company finances, and are part of the reason why many businesses opt for laser or LED printers instead. However, this is not always true and there are a number of ways that businesses can save money on printer ink.

What are inkjet printers best for?

Inkjet printers are the cheapest and smallest printer options available, so are often a good bet for small and medium businesses that require a printer but aren't ready to invest in a laser or LED printer system.

Moreover, inkjet printers produce the best quality reproductions of photos, so there are a number of cases in which businesses might consider an inkjet printer their best bet.

Certainly, advances in inkjet technology and ink usage have reversed the long-held belief that inkjets cost more per page than their counterparts, with some of the newest options offering costs as low as 1p per page for black and white copy.

There are a number of reasons that one might consider a laser printer versus an inkjet printer for the workplace, with no easy answer available as to which will be best for any given business.

Despite living in the age of the paperless office, there are still plenty of reasons to connect a printer to a Mac computer.

Whether you're a small business with printing needs, or an organisation using all-in-one machines, printers are still very much in season.

However, the way an Apple machine connects to external hardware is different to a Windows laptop or PC. To use a printer on any Apple computer, you must first add it to your list of printers, and you do this through the Printers and Scanner Preferences menu.

Normally, macOS will use AirPrint to connect to the desired printer, or it will download said printer’s software – or ‘printer driver’. Apple advises not to install the software that comes with your printer or what is recommended on the manufacturer’s website. Instead, follow the instructions below for USB and wireless connections.

Setting up a printer on Mac via USB

As mentioned above, in most cases macOS will automatically detect the new printer – it may just be a case of updating your software and then selecting the new external hardware.

However, this might not work for all printers, and so you will need to do the following:

1. Start by updating the software on the printer: you may need to check with the manufacturer, via its website, to see what updates are available for the printer you have.
2. Then connect the printer to your mac device with a USB cable. If you have a Macbook with a USB-C slot, you may need to use a multiport adapter and it is also worth connecting your laptop’s power capable and keeping it charged while you print.
3. Make sure your printer is on and ready to go – check it has ink or toner cartridges and paper.

Once it's all plugged in, you should see a pop-up message prompting you to download the new software. Go ahead and download it. Once finished you should be ready to start printing.

Setting up a printer on a Mac wirelessly

Things should be a bit more straightforward for printers that connect over Wi-Fi; if both printer and laptop are using the same Wi-Fi then theoretically they should be able to see each other.

If you need to check, however, go into ‘System Preferences’ and click on ‘Printers and Scanners’. If there is no printer listed here then you will need to add it yourself.

Start, again, by updating the printer to the latest software that’s available. If it’s a Wi-Fi printer, you may still have to connect it via a USB cable initially to set up ‘Wi-Fi printing’.

Once it is connected, you need to install the Mac software that came with the printer and use the setup assistant to connect the printer to your Wi-Fi network. Once that is completed you can remove the USB cable.

To add the printer to your list of printers, you need to go back into System Preferences, then Printers and Scanners and select it from the drop-down list. If it still doesn’t appear you can click the add button, which appears as a ‘+’, and all available printers should appear in a dialogue box.

If, however, your printer still doesn't appear, you may need to add the device via its IP address. However, it must support printing protocols - AirPrint, HP Jetdirect, Line Print Daeman, or the Internet Printing Protocol.

Click the add button and select the IP button, which should have the globe symbol. Then input the printer's information into the table.

It’s not often that we delve into the kind of hardware targeted at Twitch streamers. The brilliance of the Stream Deck, however, is that it has many uses beyond playing a police siren sound effect to a watching audience.

The Stream Deck is a 15-button panel that can be used to control all manner of things: Windows PC or Mac, Photoshop or PowerPoint, Spotify or Slack. Anything that accepts keyboard shortcuts is basically compatible with the Elgato Stream Deck Mk.2.

This second version is a minor upgrade to the model we reviewed last year, and is now only part of a range of Stream Decks that span from the six-button Mini version right through to the 32-button XL. This 15-button panel hits the sweet spot on the price/utility axis as far as we’re concerned, although others will prefers the XL’s greater flexibility.

The Mk.2 addresses one of the key issues with the original model – its captive power cord. This one now connects to the computer via a standard USB-C cable, meaning that if the cable fails you don’t need to bin the entire device. On that note, Elgato recommends you don’t connect it via a USB hub, although we’ve never had any problems doing so.

The other big change is the design of the stand. The original had a flimsy, deckchair-like stand that offered adjustable mounting angles but could easily collapse if buttons were prodded firmly. The Mk.2 has a much sturdier but fixed-position stand. Your only option is to remove the screen from the stand entirely and lay it flat. The deck now comes in white, too, and there’s a selection of face plates if pimping your kit is your thing.

The hardware updates are modest, then, and we certainly wouldn’t recommend anyone with the first model rush out to buy this. The experience is near identical. However, if you haven’t invested before now, the new Stream Deck is definitely worth considering, as the software it runs on Includes some majorly useful functions. This includes plugins, which are basically pre-baked sets of shortcuts for specific apps.

The PowerPoint plugin, for example, includes shortcuts that make slideshow navigation easier, with presets to jump to the next, previous, first or last slide. The Stream Deck’s buttons are soft-touch, by the way, so if you’re presenting slides remotely or in person, viewers won’t hear button clicks. There are other plugins that let you control Philips Hue lights, Cubase, Discord and Spotify, to name but a few. And not all the plugins are designed to control apps: there’s one that uses a Stream Deck button to display your current CPU usage, for instance, while another places world clocks on the LCD buttons.

If you can’t find a plugin for an app or it doesn’t do what you want, you can always bake your own. The Stream Deck makes it supremely easy to program your own shortcuts. We created a set for Adobe Lightroom, which includes features with hard-to-remember keyboard shortcuts such as the clipping tool or the before/after edit comparison. You can use your own screenshots as the button icons for your homemade shortcuts or choose from the huge libraries of icons that Elgato provides. All the icons and plugins are free, too.

The other big step feature in terms of usability is pages. The Stream Deck might have only 15 buttons, but you can have an effectively infinite number of programmed buttons, because the device allows you to flick to a new set of icons on the next page. The Stream Deck also supports folders, so you can nest shortcuts for multiple apps under one button.

And that’s before we even get to the really complex stuff. The Stream Deck supports “multi-actions”, which means you can execute multiple commands with a single button press. We have a button that opens our email client, TweetDeck and web browser showing the BBC News site, for example, helping us to get started in the mornings. You can use a Stream Deck button to trigger a Mac Shortcut or a Web Hook via IFTTT, potentially allowing that single button press to set off entire chains of events on different devices.

It does all this on top of the functions that streamers might want it for, including starting/stopping streams, playing music beds or sound effects (many of which are included with the software), controlling lighting and much more.

All told, the Stream Deck is an extraordinarily flexible device for which we’re constantly finding new uses. If the £140 price proves prohibitive, you might find cheaper originals on eBay, but we’re certain you won’t regret your purchase either way.

While increasing digitisation of our workloads might have brought the dream of the paperless office closer than ever to reality, the fact remains that printing out physical documents is still something that most of us will need to do every so often.

Having a shortcut to your printer can save time, especially when you need to manage your print queue or hardware settings on a regular basis, and don’t want the hassle of selecting your printer through options menus each and every time you do so. Thankfully, creating a shortcut to your printer in Windows 10 is a relatively smooth and straightforward process.

First, open your control panel by pressing the start button and searching ‘control panel’, then clicking on the control panel application.

Next, under ‘Hardware and Sound’ select ‘View devices and printers’. Once this is open, right click on your printer of choice and select ‘create shortcut’. You will be prompted with an option to create a desktop shortcut: select ‘yes’.

Once this is complete, you should have a shortcut for your printer right on your desktop, from which you can check the print tray and access its settings at any time. In the print tray, one can see all documents currently sent to the printer, as well as cancel documents from printing and reorder the print queue.

If you would like to rename the shortcut, simply right click on the icon and select ‘Rename’, or alternatively click twice on the name it has and then enter your own (not a double click — click on the name to select it, and then a second or two later click again to highlight the text itself).

For ease of access, the printer shortcut can also be added to the taskbar. To do this, simply right click on your newly created printer shortcut and select the option ‘add to taskbar’.

Additionally, the printer shortcut you created does not have to stay on your desktop. The icon, like any program shortcut, can be moved or copied to any folder on your computer. One way to do this is to open windows explorer and navigate to the folder of your choice.

Next, move Windows Explorer so that the shortcut is not obscured behind it on the desktop (this may require pressing the maximise button to make explorer a smaller window, if you have it in full screen). Then simply drag the shortcut from the desktop into the folder of your choice.

Alternatively, you can click once on the printer shortcut to select it, and use the keyboard shortcut Control + C to add the printer shortcut to the clipboard. Then, navigate to the folder of your choice and press Control + V on your keyboard to paste it into the folder.

Any number of reasons could arise for you to take a screenshot on your MacBook or iMac. Perhaps you want to save evidence of a business expense, or capture images of an IT issue that you can attach by email. Luckily, there are several ways to take a screenshot in MacOS, with a range of options to cater to your individual needs.

Different types of macOS screenshot

To see all your screenshotting options, use the shortcut Shift + Command + 5. This opens up the screenshot menu (pictured below) from which you can select a range of choices.

These include a button to capture the entire screen, capture a manually-selected window, or capture a selected portion of a window by clicking and dragging. Also included in the menu are options to take a screen recording of the entire screen, or of a selected portion of the screen.

Any screenshots or screen recordings will by default be saved directly to the desktop, but you can change this to any folder of your choice by selecting 'options' from the menu and selecting your folder of choice under the 'Save to' heading.

Screenshot shortcuts in MacOS

If you want to take screenshots without first opening the screenshot menu each time, all the actions within the menu have a dedicated keyboard shortcut.

To capture the entire screen, press Shift + Command + 3. This will take a screenshot of the entire screen or, if you have multiple monitors connected, separate screenshots of every screen at the same time.

If you just want to quickly take a screenshot of part of the screen, say a portion of a webpage, you can use the shortcut Shift + Command + 4.

To access the menu, as covered above, press Shift + Command + 5.

If you need to take a screenshot of the touch bar on your MacBook, perhaps to show off your shortcut layouts, use the shortcut Shift + Command + 6.

To take a screenshot of a particular portion of the screen, press Shift + Command + 3 and the mouse cursor will change into a small target symbol. Once this has happened, click and drag anywhere on your screen and a grey box will appear. Drag further to increase its size and change its shape. Everything inside the box will be converted into a screenshot.

What apps can I use to take a screenshot on my Mac?

If the built-in tools Apple includes within macOS aren't doing it for you, you're in luck - there are a range of third-party apps and utilities that offer additional functionality beyond the default options. Many are completely free, and you can find some of our favourites below.

Shottr

Don't let the fact that it's free fool you: Shottr is worth a mention for its powerful range of features. These include scrolling screenshots, the ability to pixelate portions of your screenshots, and even the ability to work as a screen ruler.

Skitch

Another free app, Skitch is produced by the makers of Evernote and boasts good compatibility with its parent app. It's a good option for anyone already familiar with the functionality of Evernote, which works well in the Mac architecture as a result of its clean design and organisational capabilities. It offers good annotation options, with an easy-to-use UI for editing screenshots to your heart's content.

CleanShotX

Where CleanShotX falls down against the others in price, costing a comparatively large $29, it more than makes up for it in functionality. It currently boasts over 50 tools including scrolling screenshots, recording GIFs, powerful screen annotation, pinning screenshots and even hiding select desktop icons from your screenshots at will. The app is quite the silver bullet for any screenshot and screen annotation task.

LightShot

This free option is similar to Skitch in many ways, running as an extremely lightweight program available through the App Store. One notable quality of life feature that comes as default with LightShot is users being asked to choose a folder to save each screenshot in whenever they're taken, which could either be seen as a hurdle to fast-paced screenshotting or as a powerful antidote to the desktop clutter that the native screenshot settings on macOS generates.

The rollout of Windows 11, earlier this year, has given system administrators and IT managers a lot of food for thought. Many businesses probably feel like they only just finished upgrading to Windows 10 (and indeed, many have).

Windows 10 was previously billed as the “last” edition of the venerable operating system, so it’s quite possible that quite a few hearts sank when the announcement came. With Windows 10 being developed alongside Windows 11 until October 2024, there’s no huge rush, but when the time comes, you have one important decision to make – Windows 11 Home or Pro?

Since the heady days of Windows 7 and its whopping six basic editions, Microsoft has been working on keeping the choice simpler – there are two basic options for most Windows laptops and desktops, namely Windows 11 Home, and Windows 11 Pro. But are they really all that different? Do you or your team actually need to go Pro? We’ve taken a look at the differences so you can judge for yourself.

Are there only two editions of Windows 11?

Technically, there are actually more than two versions of Windows 11, however the others are aimed at specific use cases; there’s a stripped down version for the education sector, pitched as a rival to Google’s Chrome OS, and specific editions for IoT and embedded devices. We’re not really worrying about those here, as our focus is on the difference between the two primary retail editions.

A third edition called “Windows 11 Pro for Workstations” is aimed at high-end machines, such as those used by graphic designers and game developers, and for the purposes of this article, we’re folding that into Windows 11 Pro. We’re also not considering the stripped down “S Mode” as this can be switched on and off regardless of which licence you choose and shouldn’t be a buying consideration.

Windows 11 for home workers and small businesses

Although this article is primarily aimed at business users, first a quick word about individuals, sole traders, and smaller businesses. Do you need Windows 11 Pro? Unequivocally, you don’t. Although so-called “upgrade culture” tells us that only the version with all the whistles and bells will do, the same logic doesn’t apply to Windows.

Most of the differences we’ll be talking about are completely irrelevant unless you’re working in an enterprise environment. Windows 11 Home is the right version for you if you use your machine in isolation, and you’re missing nothing by opting out of the pro version.

Windows 11 Home vs Pro: Security features

When it comes to security, both Windows versions offer basic device encryption as standard, as well as tools like Find my Device and Secure Boot. They also both offer the standard internet protections you'd come to expect, such as firewalls and network protection.

The extra features in Windows 11 Pro fall into two basic camps: security, and deployment. In terms of security, there are two extra features – BitLocker Encryption, and Windows Information Protection (WIP). Both are aimed primarily at home workers and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) users as part of Microsoft’s attempts to embrace the “new normal” of work.

BitLocker

BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature to prevent unauthorised access to data held on the hard drive of lost and stolen machines. It has been around since the days of Windows Vista.

When activated, it uses the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a separate chip in the individual machine, to encrypt the hard disk sector by sector. The decryption cypher is kept completely separate to the BIOS, and is only released when the user either types a code at the pre-boot stage, types in their Windows PIN, or uses a USB stick – this can either be a conventional type, or for extra security, a FIDO standard two-factor authentication key.

Without the key, the entire drive is locked down with banking grade 256-bit AES encryption, making it nigh-on impossible to crack. Think of it like ransomware in reverse – the computer gets locked down and the thief or finder can only access the disk with the correct key. While this could be considered a handy feature for the average users, with so many other security options included in Windows already, unless your users keep extremely sensitive information on a drive, and more importantly, the device is portable (ie a laptop), it’s a “nice-to-have” and not necessarily a justification for the additional cost of the Pro Edition.

Windows Information Protection

The second security feature is Windows Information Protection (WIP), previously known as Enterprise Data Protection (EDP). This is a sort of “safety net” to ensure that in the event that computers that are introduced to the network environment, such as BYOD machines, these don’t leak sensitive data due to the lack of other safeguards.

It’s not aimed at stopping hackers, but rather it protects what Microsoft refers to as “honest employees” from accidentally transferring data onto the local drive, or an external USB stick. It works best in conjunction with a second feature installed on Windows Azure-based servers called Azure Rights Management, which helps identify what is considered sensitive in the first place. While it has some protection without Azure, the two tools complement each other well, giving system administrators granular control about what is safe to transfer and what isn’t.

Windows 11 Home vs Pro: Network Deployment Enhancements

The biggest difference between Windows 11 Home and its Pro Edition is the massive feature-set focusing on deployment to networks.

Overhauled for the new hybrid working culture, it’s these features that will primarily decide if you should go Pro or not. If the features in the next few paragraphs don’t mean anything to you, then you probably don’t need Pro at all.

Assigned Access: This allows sysadmins to select which apps an individual machine can use. It can be configured for a whole machine, or for particular users, letting the same computer act as both a personal and a business machine, without compromise.

Dynamic Provisioning: Allows organisations to setup machines with specific permissions and levels of security from an administration app, with the admin then able to apply the exact same settings to every machine with one click, rather than on a machine-by-machine basis. This can either be done through the cloud, or from a USB-stick.

Enterprise State Roaming: Offers Azure users a way of offering a virtualised experience that is echoed on any machine, effectively making any enrolled machine their work computer, with minimal configuration. This is only available to organisations with specific Azure licences.

Group Policy: This is the classic deployment tool, giving all users access to the same files, printers and other peripherals, when paired with a Windows Server.

Kiosk Mode: This locks down machines for use as public information terminals, such as tourist information points and building sign-in points. This can be done individually, or through cloud deployment through mobile device management (see below).

Microsoft Store for Business: This is a configurable version of the standard Microsoft Store, which can allow employees to download only the apps you want them to – for example an administrator can set it not to offer any games, or alternative OS sub-systems like Linux and Android.

Mobile Device Management: A way of securing individual devices through a range of third-party apps. Microsoft offers its own InTune package, but if you’re using a third-party server environment, most are based on the MDM protocol. This is where some businesses could trip up – you may think that your vendor has you covered and therefore you don’t need this feature – however, it is a dependency for many deployment environments and therefore it should be ignored with caution.

Active Directory and Azure Active Directory Support: These tools are another popular way of provisioning, allowing a single log-in across all Windows devices, with the same access to data and peripherals. They are required for Windows Server and Windows Azure based systems, respectively.

Windows Update for Business: This gives the system administrator complete control over when and if certain updates are deployed to enrolled devices. Microsoft’s track record on releasing bug-free updates is less than stellar, so this can be a great way of delaying the rollout of updates that could do more harm than good. Equally, it significantly simplifies the deployment when the time comes, allowing every machine in the fleet to receive the update with a few clicks.

Is there anything missing in Windows 11 Pro?

The short answer is no. There are no ‘cons’ to using Windows 11 Pro.

That said, both versions have all the new front-end whistles and bells, such as enhanced game support, access to the Android sub-system, deep integration with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft’s built-in security and anti-malware services. In fact, for the end user, Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro are almost imperceptible.

Just as the “Pro” versions of modern smartphones often offer features that many users will never use, Windows 11 Pro only really offers advantages to machines being used in enterprise network environments.

Plus, Windows 11 Home can be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro by purchasing an upgrade key. So before you commit to paying extra, consider if Windows 11 Home is actually the right version for your business too. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Coined in the 1970s, Karoshi is the Japanese term used to describe death from overwork. For a nation with a corporate culture steeped in tradition, and haunted by a history of illness-inducing overcommitment, to introduce a four-day week is akin to a cultural revolution.

Yet, last June, the government proposed as much to improve the nation’s work-life balance, with officials gently nudging – rather than mandating – companies to allow their staff to cut down the traditional five-day working week. Now, government leaders are hoping to capitalise on the wider trends of remote and flexible working to convince bosses these benefits can be extended to a shorter working week.

It could be extremely difficult to implement, though, as it grates against Japan’s corporate traditions and a rigid working culture that prides devotion to the workplace. This conflict could be the reason, for example, why Microsoft – which held a successful four-day week trial in summer 2019 – didn’t follow through with implementing the changes, in the end.

COVID-19, however, has changed the equation. Japanese businesses transformed the way they operated, with many defying conventional wisdom to prove they were still able to function – even when employees were working from home and not subject to the unescaping gaze of management. As traditional working methods and rigid office structures go toe-to-toe with the modern age of hybrid work, the prospect of a four-day week hitting the mainstream could be a watershed moment for Japanese corporate culture.

It’s a small, but essential, step

The Japanese government has recommended a four-day week to boost the productivity of middle-aged office workers, says professor Naohiro Yashiro, vice president and professor at Showa Women’s University. Specifically, a shorter working week could allow these workers to improve their information and communication, and management skills. You can’t gain these skills through on-the-job training, and workers need to dedicate at least two days a week for formal education outside the workplace. The government also hopes to encourage people to continue working while caring for children, says Yashiro, with a shorter working week helping families in which both parents work full-time.

“Finally, reducing the working days in a week would provide a better opportunity for workers with multiple jobs to increase household incomes under a stagnant Japanese economy with no increase in the average wage for decades,” explains Yashiro.

Yashiro believes acquiring an extra free day each week could be a small, but essential, step in granting employees independence from a totalitarian corporate culture. A significant hurdle in implementing a four-day week, though, will be compensating the missing day while maintaining equality between those who take the option and those who don’t.

To maintain a 40-hour week, raising working hours from eight to ten is one solution. Another is scaling back wages pro rata, says Yashiro. If allowed, using paid holidays, too, would benefit the worker, as only half of them are used on average in Japan.

There are also worries that employees’ loyalty may diminish as the extra time provides an opportunity to have multiple jobs and turnover. “Unlike general perception, the Japanese employees in the large firms are not necessarily satisfied because they are entrapped by the employment security and the seniority-based wages,” underlines Yashiro.

“It contrasts with their British counterparts, who could easily change their job if they’re not satisfied with their current position.”

Promoting a healthier work-life balance

During the 1970s, when Karoshi was prevalent, Japanese employees worked more than 2,000 hours per year, while their US counterparts worked just over 1,800. Then, in the late 1980s, people in Japan began to reconsider the values which had previously justified longer working hours, explains Shinichi Takasaki, director of the International Labour Office (ILO) for Japan. Working hours became a major policy issue, and were reduced from 48 to 40 hours per week with the 1987 amendment to the Labour Standards Law. Then, in the 1990s, many employers began to adopt a five-day week.

“At that time, the introduction of the system began under a long-term plan to gradually reduce the number of working hours according to the size of firms because it was clear that it takes time for the concept to be shared widely throughout Japanese society,” says Takasaki. Likewise, today, the four-day week had been considered an option to fight the COVID-19 pandemic for the last two years, but gathering knowledge around its benefits and drawbacks has only just begun.

Unlike in the past, working styles that promote a healthy work-life balance have become more prevalent. In an industry in which it’s challenging to secure staff, the only way is to appeal to those who want diverse and flexible ways of working, Takasaki continues. The most significant driver of the policy is productivity. Ideally, wages should remain the same even with a four-day week, he says. Some large companies may be able to adopt automation and other measures, but it’s unclear to what extent this is feasible.

Although some large companies have started to adopt the four-day work week, the wider business landscape doesn’t understand it enough for it to take off, explains Takasaki. The barriers to adoption, too, are higher in other countries. Although the days when working long hours was considered a sign of diligence are fading, he says, it’s still favourable to work face-to-face. Although things are changing, the cultural forces persist.

When remote working became commonplace during the pandemic, many employees, not just senior leaders, reaffirmed the value of face-to-face communication. Takasaki underlines this may have happened everywhere, not just in Japan, and is something that should be taken into consideration.

Wrestling with historic tensions

The government is trying to loosen labour regulations in the hope that industry will flourish but, historically, industry doesn’t necessarily do what the government wants, says Will Jasprizza, managing director at Intralink Japan, a British business development consultancy specialising in Asia. “When the government allowed fixed-term contracts in the 1990s, the hope was that it would create more flexibility in the labour market,” he explains. “Instead, companies used the new rules to cut costs further – hiring people on short term contracts and creating two classes of employee.”

Large firms will find it easier to adopt a four-day week than small, regional companies. Companies with a strong international aspect and high-profile CEOs – like Yusaku Maezawa of Zozotown or Hiroshi Mikitani of Rakuten – are more likely to embrace the idea, but there’s no certainty it’ll happen.

Some companies have already experimented with four-day weeks, including rice milling machinery maker Satake, Sompo Himawari Life Insurance and Yahoo Japan, all in 2017. In the case of Satake, however, clients complained, so the company allowed workers to alternate their additional days off. The latter two, however, only offered this perk to those who cared for children or ageing relatives. More recently, in April 2021, systems developer Encourage Technologies embraced it to attract and retain younger staff, Jasprizza adds, while pharma company Shionogi is doing so to give staff time to “learn new skills”.

Zozotown CEO Yusaku Meazawa (pictured) is among a number of business leaders more likely to embrace the four-day week

At smaller companies, though, the owner will have a more traditional view of employment. “He, and it is almost invariably a ‘he’, will feel he “owns” the time of his employees, so he’s hyper-focused on the hours they’re working rather than how productive they are,” explains Jasprizza. For many business owners, the company gives you everything, so you have to repay that with loyalty and hard work – which doesn’t include a three-day weekend.

One managing director, Jasprizza tells IT Pro, starts work 40 minutes before the 9:30am start time. Then “like a factory foreman of old” spends his day watching the shopfloor. He stays until 7:30pm, a full hour after the working day is done, putting subtle pressure on everyone to stay, because to go before him means standing up in front of everyone and saying “excuse me for leaving before you”. It’s anecdotal, but the company is based in central Tokyo, and highly representative of the old-school type of Japanese SMB, he says.

It partially explains Japan’s productivity crisis, with the country ranked 23rd of 36 OECD nations. Jasprizza asks: why would the managing director reduce staff days? He feels he’ll get less from his workers, with this attitude rubbing off on them too. It’s as if management only cares that you're at your desk; there’s no motivation to become more productive – especially if you’re going to be at the office until 7:30pm anyway.

If a four-day week was implemented, Jasprizza thinks it would make people reassess what’s essential to their jobs and what’s done for the sake of it.. He points to the Microsoft trial in Japan which resulted in a massive reduction in time-wasting internal meetings.

“The key point is Japanese work culture needs to be improved, but workers and company bosses don’t need to sell their souls in the process – they can strike a balance of being faithful to their traditions, histories and long-term strategies while adapting to the modern environment – including digitisation and remote working,” says Jasprizza.

Solving Japan’s productivity crisis

Japan’s companies certainly have a productivity problem, agrees Parissa Haghirian, professor of International Management at Sophia University in Tokyo. Traditionally, roles aren’t clearly defined nor are they performed by one employee. In Japan, employees are first hired by the company, then transferred to the departments at which they’re needed.

“There’s no work division in Japanese companies like in Western firms; in theory everyone can do every job,” says Haghirian. “This also means the Japanese constantly learn new processes in new jobs, many managers are transferred to new departments every two years, and this learning process is supported by older colleagues, and by performing tasks together.”

Many of these processes aren’t documented, too, so there’s a constant interaction between employees and team members, and, in Japan, there can be up to 200 people in one big office room. Learning is experience-based and done on the job, and everybody is involved in every process, she explains. This very personal and interactive working style is costly and difficult to digitise, but it exists because many employees in Japan stay in one firm for decades. During the pandemic, this proved problematic. It’s also the reason why many companies switched back to office-based work as soon as they could.

Haghirian believes the four-day work week will help companies be more productive, as it’ll motivate them into delegating and defining tasks and roles, and giving employees more independence. Remote work can also save costs as office space and commutes in places like Tokyo are expensive. Lastly, it can also help the work-life balance of employees, given many commute three hours per day.

Japanese corporate culture has made monumental strides since the 1970s, but Haghirian concedes it’ll be easier for some companies than others to make the next step, for better or worse. Larger organisations with a high degree of delegation, like law firms or media companies, will introduce a four-day week for the benefits. So, too, will younger companies or those embedded in technology. It’ll be more difficult, however, for smaller businesses and those steeped in tradition to help bring the four-day week into the mainstream.

When it comes to running a business of any size, having a robust IT platform is essential if you hope to maximise productivity.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system underpins many organisation’s IT operations and offers a number of features and tools to help drive day-to-day business tasks. The platform has found the sweet spot between retaining the familiarity of previous Windows iterations, and the successful addition of modern features.

The OS offers three main versions: Home, Pro, and Enterprise. Choosing between these can be a little confusing as there are many overlapping features, but choosing the right one will provide the foundations for a fruitful and secure IT setup.

We take a look below at the key features that each one provides and how they stack up against each other to help you make the right call for your business.

How Windows 10 licencing works

Windows Home users that decide that the Pro version is more suited to their business needs can simply upgrade from their current version at any time.

However, while Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro are distinct variations of the OS, Windows 10 Enterprise is effectively an additional licence that builds upon the Pro version to make it more suitable to larger organisations. In order to utilise this add-on, you must first have an active Windows 10 Pro licence.

To confuse things further, there are two Enterprise subscription options available – E3 and E5 – and they essentially pack in more advanced security features and functionality across the IT ecosystem. With E3, for example, Windows 10 Enterprise can be deployed on up to five devices per user covered by the licence.

With these Enterprise licences, Microsoft says its aim is to provide small- and medium-sized businesses with flexible access to Windows 10 Enterprise features, which are unavailable in the Pro version.

Windows 10 Security features

With the ever-increasing risk of malicious software attacks, security is perhaps the most important element for a business when deciding on which operating system to implement.

Windows 10 Home edition covers the basics suitable for individual users and even some small businesses - including features such as Windows Hello, device encryption, firewall and network protection, and more.

Windows 10 Pro, which is geared more towards business use, offers more on top of that, throwing in BitLocker device disk encryption, which helps protect key business information – including when devices may be lost or stolen. It also offers Windows Information Protection (WIP) for defence against potential data theft across enterprise apps, Assigned Access 8.1, as well as Windows Hello for Business.

Windows 10 Enterprise Edition includes all the features above but with additional perks to further help mid-to-large size IT teams and organisations. Ultimately, this version has been designed to protect multiple endpoints, as well as enable centralised efficient software deployment, principally through its ‘Guard’ branded tools.

One such tool is Credential Guard, which leverages features such as Secure Boot and virtualisation to protect important data, only allowing access to privileged users. It’s a handy business tool as it blocks malicious software from accessing sensitive information through use of virtualisation-based isolation, helping to prevent credential theft attacks such as Pass-the-Hash and Pass-the-Ticket.

It does this by safeguarding NTLM password hashes, Kerberos Ticket Granting Tickets, as well as sensitive domain credentials stored by applications.

To complement Credential Guard, Windows 10 Enterprise also offers Device Guard, a group of hardware and software features that work together to allow only trusted apps to run on a device.

Usually, applications are trusted unless security software actively blocks them. Device Guard essentially flips this logic on its head with a zero-trust approach, and restricts Windows 10 only allowing apps to run that have been authorised by the business’ code integrity policies.

Enterprises can implement and manage Device Guard easily through Group Policy settings, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, Windows PowerShell, and Microsoft InTune.

Additionally, with the Enterprise E5 licence, businesses can also leverage Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, an endpoint security platform design to help tackle and prevent advanced threats across user devices.

Below is a selection of the key security features found with each version of Windows 10.

Windows 10 Productivity tools

In terms of productivity features, all three of these Windows 10 versions largely offer the same range of applications and tools, including Microsoft Search in Windows 10, the Microsoft Edge browser, Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant, and access to OneDrive cloud storage options.

There’s also the familiar Microsoft 365 family of productivity apps – which include the likes of Word, Excel and PowerPoint – as well as Microsoft Whiteboard, OneNote, and Windows Ink.

With Microsoft 365, Home and single users can either create a free Microsoft account or sign in with an existing one to get started. For businesses, Microsoft offers three subscription plans:

• Business Basic (£4.50 user/month)
• Business Standard (£9.40 user/month)
• Business Premium (£16.60 user/month)

With the latter, you get the whole package, including advanced security and device management features not present with the Basic and Standard subscriptions.

For those that just require the apps, there’s also Microsoft 365 Apps for business at a cost of £7.90 user/month, providing desktop versions of the classic Office apps, file storage with 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and cross-device availability for up to five devices per user.

As Microsoft 365 is delivered as a service, these tools are available across all versions of Windows 10, with Enterprise editions of the operating system naturally allowing for greater centralised control of app visibility for its end users.

Elsewhere, Windows 10 Enterprise users also get access to SMB Direct for transferring large amounts of data with minimal CPU usage, as well as persistent memory for the most demanding apps and data.

Windows 10 Management tools

Alongside security, deployment of software and updates is a crucial part of running a successful IT department. Naturally, this is where the Pro and Enterprise versions come into their own, offering a host of features that are not present on the Home edition.

Both of these versions offer an array of management and deployment tools, which include Mobile Device Management, shared PC mode, Windows Hello Management, a kiosk mode, and more.

With the Enterprise licences, businesses also get access to a number of other features to help manage their IT landscape. These include Application Virtualization (App-V), which is designed to make applications available to end users without installing that software directly on their device.

There’s also User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) for capturing user-customised Windows settings and storing them on a centrally managed network file share, while the Managed User Experience helps customise a Windows device user’s interface to restrict it to a certain task – particularly ideal for training purposes.

Windows 10 Design and navigation

All three of these Windows 10 versions offer a design that’s at once familiar to the end user and an improvement over older iterations of Microsoft’s operating system. The customisable Start Menu and taskbar offer quick access to applications either via alphabetical listing or a quick search feature.

Those familiar with previous Windows versions will feel comfortable navigating the file system, control panel and all the usual options. For IT professionals, security and deployment features are robust and easy to deploy for those with the know-how, thanks to the plethora of tools available.

The cross-device connectivity is also fluent and intuitive, allowing for easy access to files and tools whether signed in to a laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile, and regardless of the OS variant that’s running.

In terms of installing OS and system updates, the businesses-orientated editions of Windows 10 can utilise the Windows Update for Business service, which allows updates to be deployed from a central console.

Essentially, though, if users can find their way around one version of Windows 10, they’ll have little trouble navigating other versions thanks to the platform’s familiar design and uniformity. There’s very little difference between Home, Pro, and Enterprise in terms of design.

Instead, the key differences are found in the management tools available and security functionality offered by the licence in play - making those elements of greater importance for businesses.

Windows 10 Home vs Pro vs Enterprise

As its name suggests, Windows 10 Home is a great option for sole or home use, offering crucial security features to protect personal data or private work information. If you run a small, self-employed business, its features can help you get the most from your day-to-day activities.

Windows 10 Pro ramps things up and its more advanced selection of features and tools make it better suited to helping small- and medium-sized businesses. Security is placed at the forefront of its functionality to ensure data is protected and users can get the most from their productivity apps.

For larger organisations that require more robust and intricate security across a greater number of endpoints, Windows 10 Enterprise subscription options represent the best way of keeping business and personal data secure and ensuring the safe deployment of key software and updates.

Additionally, users who are considering upgrading to Windows 11 should be aware that Microsoft has also introduced Windows 11 Home and Pro to its new operating system. Since Windows 10 is being developed alongside Windows 11 until October 2024, there's no rush to currently change. Despite this, when the time comes, businesses will have to choose between Windows 11 Home vs Pro depending on their teams' needs.