Coleman Technologies Blog

Human Resources may not be the meat and potatoes of any business, but it is exceedingly important. With all the mandates a business has to stay in compliance of, having people whose job it is to deal directly with the staff on behalf of the company makes a lot of sense. Since some SMBs don’t have a dedicated HR department, there are now platforms available that provide those services. But, let’s first start by outlining what kinds of tasks the average small business has to deal with, with a list.

The top six issues a HR department would have to deal with are:

• Employee retention
• Health and safety
• Personnel
• Payroll
• Training and compliance
• Employee management

Software developers have been creating dynamic human resources software, aiming to take the hassle out of a crucial part of your business. Some are pretty advanced, providing human resources directors useful automations that help them control many of the vast responsibilities placed on them. Some useful HR-related software you’ll see includes:

• Human Resource Information System (HRIS)
• Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
• Onboarding
• Benefits Administration
• Time and Compensation Management
• Training Management Performance, and Recognition Management
• HR Analytics
• Wellness Management

It seems overwhelming, but most of today’s most popular and utilized tools check most of the boxes as far as including a useful cache of tools that will allow them to manage any small or medium-sized human resources department competently.

While it once was popular to host all the applications a HR department would use on a single computer or on a very small network, today there are a few HR software vendors that provide a completely hosted solution. This means the software is hosted on secure servers that are managed by a provider, and accessible from anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Human Resources as a Service
Some small businesses have begun to completely outsource their human resources, with some success. HR as a service (HRaaS) basically eliminates the need to hire human resources staff, as the service provides resources that allow for a holistic approach to all the important tasks a human resources director would accomplish without the resounding costs associated with traditional human resources strategies.

Not only does a HRaaS platform eliminate a large section of the costs associated with human resources, it standardizes the approach to HR, eliminating the hiccups that often happen with the traditional method. A business will have their HRaaS platform customized for them and would be assigned a HR professional to help keep everything working properly.

Ultimately, it will be up to you to determine how to do human resources right. If your business is searching for a consultant to help you through hard business and technology decisions, reach out to the professional IT technicians at Coleman Technologies. Call (604) 513-9428 to get started building a more efficient business.

Google Drive

• X allows you to select or deselect items.
• Shift + A allows you to select all visible items. You can use Shift + N to clear your selection of visible items.
• Enter or O will let you open an item you have selected, while N will let you rename it.
• Z lets you move an item to a selected folder, while S will star or unstar them.
• You can use these shortcuts to create various items:
  • Folder - Shift + f
  • Document - Shift + t
  • Spreadsheet - Shift + s
  • Presentation - Shift + p

Google Docs

• Ctrl + K: Insert or edit a link.
• Alt + Enter: Open a link.
• Alt + Shift + 5: Type with a strikethrough in your text.
• Ctrl +: Format your text with a superscript.
• Ctrl -: Format your text with a subscript.
• Ctrl + Alt + F: Insert a footnote.

Google Sheets

• Ctrl + Space: Select all contents in one column.
• Shift + Space: Select all contents in one row.
• Alt + Shift + 7 or Ctrl + Shift + 7: Apply a border to your selected cells.
• Ctrl + \: Clear formatting of your selection.
• Ctrl + Page Up or Ctrl + Page Down: Jump to either the previous sheet or the next sheet.
• Ctrl + ~: See the list of formulas.

Google Slides

• Ctrl + D: Duplicate a slide or object.
• Page Up/Page Down, Up/Down: Move from slide to slide in the filmstrip.
• Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F: Move over to the filmstrip.
• Ctrl + Alt + Shift + C: Move back to the canvas.
• Alt + Shift + Left/Right Arrow: Rotate objects by one degree.
• Alt + Left/Right Arrow: Rotate objects by fifteen degrees.

By using these shortcuts, you should be able to get more out of your Google services. There are far too many shortcuts to include here, so for the complete list, you’ll need to be in Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides. Once you’re in, just use Ctrl + / to pull up the list of keyboard shortcuts for the Google app you’re using.

Do you have any tips and tricks to share? Let us know in the comments.

Imagine, for a moment, just how much you have to lose from a data loss incident. Your business depends on its data, and if it suddenly loses access to it, you could be in a position where downtime significantly impacts your bottom line. In situations like this, you have no time to waste. You have to get back in the game as soon as possible or you risk losing so much traction that it could be hard to keep the doors open.

With this in mind, you can’t possibly achieve this goal without data backup. You have to think of it in terms of a potential loss incident--essentially it is professional risk management. While it’s true you don’t want to make decisions based solely on the what-ifs, it’s hard not to justify it in this case. What it boils down to is this: if you don’t have data backup and suffer from a disaster, your business will, more likely than not, fail. Therefore, the best way to ensure the possibility of success is to implement data backup and prevent a potential loss incident from surfacing in the first place.

Basically, the sheer fact that you know you need to back up your data is enough to justify having a solid backup solution.

The point that we are trying to make is that we shouldn’t have to convince you to go all-in on your business’ data backup and disaster recovery solution. It should be common sense. After all, you’re trying to preserve your business and its future against the possibility that a disaster scenario cuts its life short. You have no reason not to invest in something that could potentially save your business. It doesn’t matter whether it’s from a natural disaster, user error, or hardware failure--there is always the chance that an unforeseen event could spell the end of your organization.

The right data backup solution can go a long way toward keeping your business afloat, even in a worst-case scenario. To find out more about BDR, reach out to Coleman Technologies at (604) 513-9428.

Applications
Applications, or “apps,” are pieces of software that can be used for specific purposes in the workplace--but you probably already knew that. If used properly, they can streamline specific processes within your organization. Some apps don’t use connectivity, but there are countless others that utilize it to connect all kinds of workers from the professional spectrum together. These kinds of connected apps are generally found in the cloud, and their wide range of use is one of the defining things about them.

The Cloud
You can think of the cloud like a big data center that gives you access to all sorts of software, processing, and storage options through your Internet connection. Computing resources tend to be made available to users through an “as a service” model, in which users secure access to it by paying a monthly fee rather than purchasing a license outright. Apps deployed through the cloud are slightly more expensive as a result, but the flexibility offered by being able to cancel at any time or add new users makes it a valuable opportunity to save money in the long run. Basically, it creates a situation where you transfer your capital costs of purchasing licenses to an operational cost.

Public, Private, Hybrid
There are several different ways that a cloud solution can be constructed. For example, most of the Software as a Service (SaaS) apps are offered as a public cloud solution, which means that the application and any processing or storage associated with it is on shared hardware. It’s made available through the browser or dedicated app, and for this purpose, its costs are generally lower than more private solutions.

In comparison, a private cloud that’s hosted in-house on a network or server unit is much more secure and customizable, as you’re controlling all of the maintenance and management of the system. For this specific reason, however, we recommend private cloud systems only for businesses that have the assets to take care of them; this includes those who outsource IT maintenance or those who have an in-house IT department who can provide the necessary management and oversight of the system.

For the best of both worlds, a hybrid approach can work. After all, some data is more sensitive than other data is, so anytime-anywhere access to it might not be in your business’ best interests. By combining the cost-effective public cloud model with the security of the private cloud, you can maintain adequate accessibility and data security.

Cloud Services
Just like there are many different types of clouds, there are many different cloud services, all for both businesses and individual users. There are generally three major categories that these cloud services are split into:

• Software as a Service: Software delivery is the name of the game here, including communications (like telephone and email), productivity (Office 365), and even security.
• Platform as a Service: Development is the main reason to go this route. This lets users create applications, collaborate on projects, and test new software without purchasing or paying for hardware.
• Infrastructure as a Service: Virtualized environments that can be used for processing, storage, software, and so much more, are what a user gets from Infrastructure as a Service.

To learn more about how the cloud can help your business, reach out to Coleman Technologies at (604) 513-9428.

Once you have your content selected, whether it’s text or an image, all you have to do is press two keys.

To cut a word or phrase from one place in your content, press Ctrl + X. To copy this content instead, keeping the original and duplicating it elsewhere, press Ctrl + C. Pasting your content is just as simple - with the place you want the content added selected, press Ctrl + V. This will insert your content where you want.

If you happen to be copy-pasting from a website to another document, it may not be a bad idea to paste it without bringing any formatting from the website over. Otherwise, it is apt to look funny on your documents. Pasting without formatting is almost as simple as regular pasting, you just add another keystroke in the middle: Ctrl + Shift + V.

Of course, any of the tasks can be accomplished with the mouse alone. Right clicking on a word, an image, or a group of selected text will bring up a menu that includes all of the above options. However, your cursor is generally more accurate than the mouse, so you may have to undo your efforts (Ctrl + Z) a few times before it’s right.

Real World Example:
Let’s say you want to send a webpage link to someone in an email or instant message. In your web browser, click the address bar (that’s the part with the ‘http://… “). That will highlight the URL. Hold down Ctrl and press C. Then go into your email or instant messenger, click where you want to paste the URL, and hold down Ctrl and press V.

Whichever you use, it’s bound to be more time-efficient than rewriting anything that needs to go in a different spot. Make sure you subscribe to our blog, so you can be alerted whenever we upload more content!