6 Small Business Tips for Working Remotely

With the impacts of Coronavirus being felt far and wide, we’ve compiled 6 small business tips for working remotely, including what you can set up easily to ensure that your team can continue to work efficiently and productively from home.

And the good news is many of these are very cost effective –  you may even have access to via Office 365, depending on the level of subscription you have.

While we are not computer technicians, we can help you get your software requirements for email and Microsoft Offices sorted.

Brisbane Hosting & Website Design is a partner of Microsoft, Google and Dropbox. This means that we purchase and manage your subscription renewals on your behalf. And in the rare instance you have any issues, you contact us rather than getting frustrated dealing with tech support of a global business. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions – 07 3889 2977 or enquire online here.

1. Switch to Office 365

If you’re not already on cloud email, now is the time to make the change!

The single biggest advantage is that all emails are stored in the cloud and synced across multiple devices, not on individual machines. If your team log on from home, all their emails will be instantly accessible meaning they can continue to be effective wherever they log on.

Did you know? Imap and Pop email accounts were created before smartphones and tablets. Meaning these “old-school” email accounts types, while often free with your domain, can be a headache when trying to access email from multiple devices. (Read: You’ll save time and money by being on cloud email like 365).

Brisbane Hosting is a Microsoft partner.

2. Enjoy free access to Office 365 Webmail

Regardless of which 365 subscription level you have, you can still access your emails via webmail (log on via an internet browser such as Chrome).

Webmail access is free with all subscriptions, including a basic Exchange only account. In fact, many of our team use webmail even while working in the office, let alone remotely.

3. Organise your Microsoft Office Software Licences

If you require Microsoft Office software licenses (Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc) for staff to be able to work from home, email us here.

Premium subscriptions have all software included, so you may not have to pay anything extra!

4. Use Microsoft Teams chat or messenger to reduce your email communication

Premium Office 365 subscriptions also have an in-built chat functionality via Teams which can help clear your inbox. If you’ve looked into Slack or similar instant messaging platforms for your internal team – this could be a cost-effective solution!

5. Run meetings via video with Skype for Business (also in Teams)

Skype for Business has now integrated into Microsoft Teams. Choose from audio or video calls. You can easily run internal calls and video meetings 100% online – and even invite external users to join.

Some of the functionality that has caught our eye is the ability to share files and the screen sharing mode for presentations or training sessions.

We’re expecting this will only grow in popularity with more and more people around the world working remotely.

6. Set up Dropbox storage

Cloud storage like Dropbox can make accessing work and client files a breeze. Brisbane Hosting is a Dropbox partner and can help set up your storage solution. Prices start from $18.50 per user, per month. Minimum 3 users. Billed yearly. (Monthly billing available but prices vary).

If you need help setting up any of this for your business, Brisbane Hosting & Website Design can help, call our team on 07 3889 2977 or enquire online here.

       

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website HostingDomain NamesDNS ServicesWebsite DevelopmentWebsite DesignWebsite RevampsWebsite Maintenance, Lead Generation Packages and Blogging, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information. 

Website Developer Brisbane

Website Developer Brisbane

Are you looking for a website developer Brisbane that talks your language and won’t take you for a ride?

Speak to Brisbane Hosting and Website Design today. With 2 decades’ experience building and hosting hundreds of websites for local and Australia wide clients – we can help you!

If it’s time to refresh your website, or if you’ve been considering a move to the WordPress platform but not sure where to begin. We’ll help make the process as seamless as possible – get in touch or keep reading to find out what’s involved.

Here’s what Cameron, a North Brisbane electrician had to say about working with us:

“I’m an electrician and the Brisbane Hosting team recently launched my new website. Straight away I’ve seen an increase in new leads and have received really positive feedback from new clients who were impressed with the layout and how easy it was to navigate. 

Not only did Brisbane Hosting manage the website development and hosting, but they also wrote all the copy. It was a really valuable exercise to sit down with the team and drill down into each of my services and points of difference so that my website accurately reflects how Armitage Electrical can help our customers. I would highly recommend these guys if you’re looking for a web developer Brisbane.” – Cameron A. 

Finding a reliable website developer Brisbane

We know it’s challenging finding reliable suppliers, let alone IT professionals who speak your language.

We have hundreds of happy clients that we manage website hosting for each year, and have completed thousands of web build projects across every industry imaginable.

And the best part is, we’re transparent with our costs. Our web build or website re-skin packages are very affordable. We cut straight to the chase and only recommend what you need.

Your new website needs to do more than just look good – it needs to be functional and Google friendly if you expect to generate leads from it.

What’s involved building a website? 

Our process:

  1. Request a quote – give us a call or drop us an online enquiry here.
  2. Deep dive workshop and copywriting – if required, we can help write Google friendly copy for your new website – or we can bring across existing copy/pages if available
  3. Web build – we’ll manage your new theme installation and website build from start to finish including creating your new homepage, service or product pages, and contact pages. You can supply all your copy and images – or we can organise this for you.
  4. Optional extras – we’ll also recommend which additional items your site might need. Some will be mandatory such as a SSL Certificate to make your site secure (Google made these compulsory in July 2018, find out more here), while others are optional but are designed to help you generate more leads
  5. Maintain your site with a care package – websites are not a set and forget, we strongly recommend all clients ensure their website is updated regularly (read our blog here) – there are some parts our clients like to do themselves, otherwise we can take care of it for (including full site back up and checking for hacker files).

WordPress Developer Brisbane

If you’re looking for a WordPress developer Brisbane, contact the team at Brisbane Web Dev today. We’re experienced, local Wordpress developers and you can be confident that your new or updated website will be completed by our team on Brisbane’s northside, not off-shore.

To read more of our 5 star Google reviews, click here.

Request a quote and give your website the boost it needs to start bringing in revenue for your business. Contact Brisbane Hosting on 07 3889 2977 or enquire online here.

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website HostingDomain NamesDNS ServicesWebsite DevelopmentWebsite DesignWebsite RevampsWebsite Maintenance, Lead Generation Packages and Blogging, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information. 

Google+ Accounts Closing in April 2019

Sometimes, even the big companies can create a flop, which is why all Google+ Accounts are closing in April 2019.

In December 2018 Google announced the decision to shut down the Google+ platform due to low usage from members. This means that from the April 2, 2019 all content and accounts will be deleted.

But what does this mean for you?

Most people won’t be too affected by this shut down, however if you or your business have used G+ you could lose:

  • Photos, videos and other content
  • Comments on your website
  • Your current login methods on some sites

What do I need to do about my Google+ Account Closing in April 2019?

Any content you want to save, such as photos and videos, you will need to download and save (click here for instructions).

If you’ve used Google+ for comments on your website, this feature will be removed. However, if you are a community owner or moderator you will be able to download additional data, for all posts, including the author, body and photos posted.

Signing in to accounts might be different – if you’ve using the Google+ sign in button you will no longer be able to use this. It will instead be replaced by a google account sign in button.

Google+ for G Suite accounts will remain active. Google are also planning updates for this feature for all G Suite Customers.

Key Dates – Google+ Accounts Closing in April 2019

If you have been using Google+, here’s the timeline of key dates ahead of the closure:

  • 4 February: No Longer able to create Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events
  • 4 February: Google+ Commenting feature will be removed from Blogger
  • 7 March: Google + commenting feature will be removed from other sites
  • Early March: additional date will be available for download by community owners or moderators
  • 2 April: Comments on all sites will start being deleted
  • 2 April: Accounts will be shut down and google will begin deleting content

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website HostingDomain NamesDNS ServicesWebsite DevelopmentWebsite DesignWebsite RevampsWebsite Maintenance, Lead Generation Packages and Blogging, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information. 

5 ‘Ignore at Your Peril’ Reasons You Need to Run Regular Updates on Your Website

In this blog, we share the 5 ‘ignore at your peril’ reasons you need to run regular updates on your website.

This includes using the latest version of WordPress, and regularly deploying theme and plugin updates.

Not sure how to do this on your own? We can help! Find out more about our Client Care Plan below and we’ll take care of it. It’s a small outlay for peace of mind and to keep your website secure and functioning at its optimal! Call us on 07 3889 2977 or enquire here.

Why you need to be using the latest version of WordPress

Here’s why you need to run regular updates on your website – and keep your theme and plugins up to date!

1. Security

It might sound obvious, but it’s sheer madness to see the volume of business owners who don’t bother to switch to the latest version of WordPress.

Especially given it’s free and takes less than 2 minutes.

WordPress powers almost one quarter (23%) of the world’s websites. And thanks to its popularity, it is often the target of hackers, data thieves and malicious code distributors.

Sounds scary, but the good news is that ensuring your website is using the latest version of WordPress means you’ll significantly reduce the risk of getting hacked.

With each new release, developers fix bugs and known security vulnerabilities.

Hackers can even search for websites running outdated versions of WordPress. So, no matter the size of your business – simply running an old version of WordPress can mean you’re at greater risk of a sophisticated attack.

And we’ve seen it happen time and time again – even on websites for small Aussie businesses.

2. Fixes Bugs

It’s not just the major WordPress updates you should be keeping on top of. Despite rigorous testing in the lead up to a major update, it’s not uncommon for a few bugs to slip through the cracks for a short period of time.

This means minor releases (which are shown by X.X.X) are equally important and shouldn’t be ignored. To give you an example, WordPress update 4.2.3 fixed 20 bugs from the 4.2 major release.

The key takeaway – always ensure you’re run both major and minor WordPress updates once they become available.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, running your WordPress, theme and plugin updates also have some positive perks…

3. Access to New Features

Using the latest version of WordPress means you’ll be able to leverage the latest and greatest features and software changes – designed to make updating your website even easier.

And if you do hit a roadblock, because you’re using the latest version you won’t have any issues finding WordPress help online. Steps for troubleshooting is typically based on the latest version

4. Improved Performance and Speed

WordPress developers are always pushing the limits to make things faster. Each new release will have several performance updates to improve efficiency and speed.

And given speed is a crucial factor in SEO, updating to the latest WordPress theme is a no brainer.

5. Compatability

While we’ve mostly addressed WordPress themes updates above, it’s just as important to use the latest theme and plugin versions – and for many of the same reasons. To protect against security vulnerabilities and eliminate any bugs in the software.

This will ensure that all the software – and your website – keeps functioning smoothly.

It’s not uncommon for issues to arise when your plugins are out of date, but you’ve got the latest version of WordPress – due to an incompatibility.

How to Update WordPress, Theme and Plugins

True to form, WordPress has made it easy to see and install a new WP, theme or plugin update.

Simply login to you Dashboard and look for the in-built “UPDATES” notification field. If new updates are available, you’ll see a round orange circle displaying the number of updates available.

Not comfortable navigating the back end of your website (your WordPress Dashboard) – we can help!

Brisbane Hosting Client Care Package

While some business owners may find it easy to run their WordPress, theme or plugin updates – others may not have the time, energy or confidence to do it on a regular basis.

Our Client Care Package not only ensures your website updates are up to date, we also take a full site back up and check for irregular hacker files, that will save you a lot of headaches (and money) should the unforeseeable happen.

To sign up for our Client Care Package, recommended on a quarterly basis at minimum, but can also be monthly – email us here

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website HostingDomain NamesDNS ServicesWebsite DevelopmentWebsite DesignWebsite RevampsWebsite Maintenance, Lead Generation Packages and Blogging, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information. 

Small Business Website Checklist – 5 Things Your Website Needs in 2019

To help set your business up for success, we’ve pulled together our small business website checklist featuring 5 important things your website should have in 2019.

You’ll find some new software features such as a Facebook Chat, others you may already be familiar with but perhaps didn’t implement in 2018.

Need help with any of the below? Contact our friendly team of web developers and marketing experts who can help get your website and digital presence optimised. Call us on 07 3899 2977 or email us here.

1. Install an SSL Certificate on your website.

We cannot stress enough how crucial this is.

A SSL Certificate encrypts data that passes between a user’s internet browser and your website server. It’s recommended for all websites, not just e-commerce sites as it helps protect personal data you collect on your website, including contact forms.

Why do you need one? Google set a deadline of 1 July 2018 and since October 2018, any website that doesn’t have an SSL has been prominently displayed as ‘Not Secure’ by Google. Some browsers won’t even loads websites without SSLs, forcing the user to confirm they want to proceed to an ‘unsecure site’ which is a big deterrent for potential customers.

Google also indicated that not having an SSL Certificate would impact your organic rankings. Find out more here.

Haven’t got an SSL Certificate? You need one asap. Email us here. 

2. Ensure your website is mobile friendly.

With more and more customers searching via mobile devices rather than desktop, if you expect your website to convert leads – it needs to be mobile friendly with a responsive theme that’s easy to navigate no matter what device it is accessed from.

Why is this important?

Consumers now spend more than five hours a dayon their smartphones.


Source: Mobile Marketing Statistics, bluecorona.com

69% of smartphone users also say that they are more likely to buy from companies with mobile sites that easily address their questions or concerns.

(BrightEdge, 2017). Source: Mobile Marketing Statistics, bluecorona.com 

 3. Blog regularly.

Want to improve your organic Google rankings? You need to be blogging regularly.

 To get the best ROI on your blogging efforts your posts does need to tick a few boxes such as optimal length and optimised set up. This will give you the best change of ranking well for your desired keyword or phrase.

Not sure what to blog about? We always recommend starting with client case studies – a great way to showcase positive reviews and demonstrate your expertise and work!

We also offer flexible lead generation packages where we can do the keyword research for you, plan your blog topics and even write the copy for your blogs! Email us here to find out more

Why blog?

Organic SEO is about 5.66 times better than paid search ads. 


(New Media Campaigns, 2018) Source: Marketing Statistics, Hubspot

70-80% of search engine users are only focusing on the organic results. 


(MarTech, 2018) Source: Marketing Statistics, Hubspot

4. Consider installing Facebook Chat on your website homepage.

Make it easy for your customers to connect with you.

A common challenge we’re hearing from clients is that customers are becoming increasingly impatient and don’t want to wait 24 hours to receive a response from an online or email enquiry they’ve submitted.

Depending on your target audience, enabling FB Chat on your website homepage may be a great solution to make it super easy for potential clients to contact you.

It means that you’ll also get an immediate notification about the enquiry through Facebook messenger on your mobile devices.

You can also set up auto-responders which manage the potential customers’ expectations about how quickly you will respond.

5. Proactively requesting Google Reviews from clients.

Are you proactively reaching out to customers to ask for 5-star Google Reviews? You should be.

Having positive reviews not only helps with lead generation (helping drive word of mouth online), but it can help reduce the impact of getting a negative review.

People tend to publish a review when they have something to complain about – so get on the front foot and establish a good rating to begin with.

This will mean, that if you do happen to get a less than favourable review, it will have less impact on your rankings or positioning in the Map results in a Google search.

Why are reviews important?

93% of local consumers use reviews to determine if a local business is good or bad. 


(BrightLocal, 2017). Source: Customer Review Statistics

72% of customers don’t take action until they have read reviews 


(Testimonial Engine) Source: Customer Review Statistics

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website HostingDomain NamesDNS ServicesWebsite DevelopmentWebsite DesignWebsite RevampsWebsite Maintenance, Lead Generation Packages and Blogging, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information. 

Brisbane Hosting Supports Homeless this Christmas

In lieu of Christmas gifts for our clients this year, Brisbane Hosting and Website Design has made a donation to ‘Backpack Bed for Homeless’ this year. This will ensure that three Australians without shelter, or a home to call their own can get a better night sleep.

Featuring an award winning design, the internationally acclaimed Backpack Bed has proven to help improve the health, dignity and comfort of those forced to sleep on our streets, under bridges and throughout our cities.

The nationally accredited charity was recognised as the winner of the 2011 Australian Human Rights Award for best Community Organisation and partners with more than 400 homeless welfare agencies to distribute the swags to street sleeping homeless people without shelter.

To buy one for yourself (great for camping, fishing or the outdoors), or to donate a backpack bed for the homeless visit swags.org.au.

 

 

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website Hosting, Domain Names, DNS Services, Website Development, Website Design, Website Revamps, Website Maintenance, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information and quote today.

Australian cricket looks to tech for competitive edge with new Microsoft deal

Australia’s cricketers will soon get a much-needed tech-led competitive advantage after Cricket Australia signed a deal with Microsoft to become the first cricketing nation to use its new team and player performance platform to assess everything from form and fitness to strategy and team selection.

The deal will be sealed on Tuesday as Microsoft’s cricket-loving chief executive Satya Nadella makes the Melbourne Cricket Ground one of his first ports of call on his maiden visit to Australia since taking the reins at the tech giant in 2014.

The new platform will be trialled throughout the summer by coaching and support staff on the Test and state teams, using the latest in machine learning and predictive analytics technology to make practical use of the mountains of player data being tracked on performances and their level of preparedness for big matches.

While cricket fans have become accustomed to seeing players and coaches sitting on the balcony outside the pavilion looking at tablets and laptops, Cricket Australia’s technology head Michael Osborne said the new system was a lot more sophisticated than anything that has been previously used in terms of giving relevant context to data.

Mr Osborne said high-performance coaching teams led by Pat Howard had collected huge amounts of data in recent years on the players, their wellness, training and match workloads and ball-by-ball statistics, but the new platform was pulling the myriad sources together and presenting it in ways that would inform key decision-making.

“Our sports science guys have been doing some very interesting things trying to understand probability of injury, and things like that. But what we’re finding is, for a lot of our frontline coaching staff, there’s almost too much data, and to get in and understand what the data is saying is a daunting task,” Mr Osborne said.

“The new platform takes this vast amount of data, provides an environment for our sports science folks to explore that data and find insights in it, and then provides a very elegant dashboard that will surface the trends and the information that will be impactful to the coaches.”

Dashboard warns ‘slow down’

In a demonstration of the new platform to Fairfax Media, Mr Osborne showed how a coach and selectors could track the squad of available players, and get real-time information on their fitness levels, as well as recent and historical performances.

Elite players have already become accustomed to providing daily updates through a mobile app on areas including how they slept the night before, and their general health. All of this data will now be drawn into the new platform, alongside performance metrics from Catapult Sports player tracking technology and ball-by-ball match data from Opta.

By monitoring the workload of players in recent games, coaches will have a meaningful, up-to-the-minute ranking of how ready a player is to perform in a match.

The Australian Test side has had particular problems in recent years with fast bowlers breaking down and missing games through injuries, most recently Peter Siddle, who is sitting out the Second Test against South Africa.

The new dashboard is expected to give advanced warning about when a player is passing their limits and needs to be rested.

The technology teams have been working with coaches, including a three-day session recently at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, to get insights into what data coaches would like to have, and are working on ways to demonstrate which players perform best in different venues, based on historical data, current form and variables such as weather and pitch conditions.

This theoretically gives a scientific algorithm, which could statistically say which players should be picked for each match.

‘We will always need human selectors’

In a sport that values the knowledge and instincts of it captains and coaches, Mr Osborne concedes that some will be more willing than others to listen to the wisdom of a computer system. He said it will work best as a support, rather than a replacement for human insight.

“I think we will always need human selectors, we’ll always need people to make those judgment calls,” Mr Osborne said.

“I don’t think the artificial intelligence will get to the point, or I don’t think we’d want it to get to the point, where it’s selecting our national team for us.

“To me, it’s about helping improve the conversation so that when people are making these decisions, they have all of the information and the key data points right there at their fingertips.”

The team and player performance platform is the most publicly visible aspect of a broader digital transformation under way within Cricket Australia, which also incorporates improved systems for administering cricket clubs down to the grassroots of local sides, and increased online coverage of matches online through CA’s website and app.

Mr Osborne and CA’s digital head Finn Bradshaw are also working on other areas such as investigating how the coaching dashboard data can be utilised in virtual and augmented reality applications for training.

The applications being used will all run on Microsoft’s Azure cloud using its machine learning capabilities. CA is also standardising the vast array of about 24 different notebooks used by staff on to Surface devices.

Microsoft Azure chief technology officer Mark Russinovich said the tech company would learn a lot from its dealings with Cricket Australia, and would be able to apply its lessons to other sport codes and teams.

While Australia is the first cricket team to get on board Microsoft’s platform, it has been adopted by Portuguese football club Benfica and a number of other early test cases in the US.

“We’re working with Cricket Australia to understand what kind of machine learning algorithms can be brought to bear to give coaches better guidance or input into the decisions they’re making about which players they put on the pitch and which ones should maybe take a rest and how they stack up against other players in the match,” Mr Russinovich said.

“This is early greenfields ideas, with not a lot of past experience to point to or playbooks to pull off the shelf … but it is powerful stuff when a system can look at data on a match in progress and marry that to historical data where Azure machine learning can get insights out of that data that humans just can’t get.”

By: Paul Smith

Posted On: http://www.afr.com/technology/australian-cricket-looks-to-tech-for-competitive-edge-with-new-microsoft-deal-20161111-gsn882

 

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website Hosting, Domain Names, DNS Services, Website Development, Website Design, Website Revamps, Website Maintenance, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information and quote today.

Vocus Network Outage Downs Internet

At around 7:35AM Monday morning the Brisbane Data Centre suffered an outage as their primary transit provider (Vocus) suffered from issues with the networking equipment providing connectivity to the facility.

BGP bungle in Brisbane: http://www.itnews.com.au/news/vocus-network-outage-downs-internet-voice-services-432164

 

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website Hosting, Domain Names, DNS Services, Website Development, Website Design, Website Revamps, Website Maintenance, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information and quote today.

Apple’s Mac no longer bucking PC industry’s sales slide

After defying industry trends in recent years, Apple is feeling the slowdown in global purchases of laptop and desktop computers.

Apple shipped 4 to 8 per cent fewer Mac computers during the second quarter of 2016, compared with a year earlier, according to new estimates from two research firms — even while some of its bigger rivals managed to find growth in the PC business.

Apple enjoyed steady increases in Mac sales for most of 2014 and 2015, while the rest of the PC market was in a slump. Although the leading PC-makers sell more units, Apple’s Macs tend to command both higher prices and consumer loyalty.

But Apple has been reporting a dip in Mac unit sales since the end of last year, and estimates released on Tuesday suggest that trend is continuing.

Analysts estimate Apple shipped 4.4 million to 4.6 million Macs in the quarter ending June 30.

PC sales overall have been declining for the last four years, as more consumers and businesses turn to smartphones and other gadgets.

Global PC shipments fell to 62.4 million in the last quarter, down 4.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to researchers at International Data. Analysts at a second firm, Gartner, estimated that drop at 5.2 per cent.

Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC-maker, saw shipments fall more than 2 per cent around the world, to 13.2 million, despite a strong showing in the United States.

But HP, Dell and ASUS all increased their shipments during the last quarter, according to both research firms.

Analysts said those companies benefited from a healthy US market, consumer interest in new laptops running Google’s Chrome software, and seasonal purchases by public agencies.

Microsoft’s new Windows 10 software hasn’t given PC sales much of a boost.

Analysts say that could change in coming months, as the end of a promotional offer means consumers will no longer be able to upgrade older Windows machines for free.

Some Apple fans say an update for the popular MacBook Pro laptop is overdue, while the company has been promoting its iPad Pro tablet, which works with a detachable keyboard.

Apple enjoyed eight consecutive quarters of year-on-year Mac sales increases before posting a 4 per cent drop in units sold during the last three months of 2015. That was followed by a 12 per cent drop in the first quarter of this year.

Macs are a small part of Apple’s overall business, however, since the company makes most of its money from iPhones. Apple will report second-quarter sales on July 26.

Posted On: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/apples-mac-no-longer-bucking-pc-industrys-sales-slide-20160712-gq3toq.html#ixzz4EFQYZQrU

 

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website Hosting, Domain Names, DNS Services, Website Development, Website Design, Website Revamps, Website Maintenance, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information and quote today.

5G the key to speed, connectivity, and capacity

In order to evolve and succeed in the mobile-centric future, companies will require revolutionary increases in the speed, capacity and connectivity of mobile devices – and they’re looking to 5G networks to provide it.

That is according to a new report from Forbes Insights, in association with Huawei, “The Mobile Industrial Revolution: Anticipating the Impact and Opportunities of 5G Networks on Business”. Global business leaders say that mobile and wireless are critical to the way they do business, but they worry that their needs are outpacing existing access networks.

The introduction of 5G networks in the next five to 10 years is expected to create huge opportunities to build enterprise value in a range of industries, profoundly affecting business operations, profit and loss economics, asset valuations and revenue models.

The global survey of more than 1000 executives found a capability gap:

  • more than one-third of all executives say that their current systems already can’t support the evolving needs of their business, including 55% of executives at organisations with revenues more than $10 billion;
  • 38% of executives in the Asia/Pacific region agree they’ve outgrown their mobile network; and
  • 36% in Europe and 34% in North America see the need for much more capacity.

Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer at Forbes Media said, “Organisations with an eye on the future are already anticipating the impact of 5G technology. They are working on long-term plans to innovate and realise value from this.”

Qiu Heng, president of wireless networkmMarketing operation of Huawei said, 5G will help to realise a completely new world for consumers, for vertical industries, and operators. This will be a fully connected world converging the physical world and the cyberworld, and this world will provide infinite new business opportunities for vertical industries and operators.”

Other key findings include:

  • 67% say they need mobile networks that provide ultra-high throughput.
  • 64% say they require massive numbers of connections
  • 59% require ultra-low latency (59%) – anticipated to be provided by 5G networks.
    • Education is key 36% said they know “very little” or “nothing” about the technologies and issues around 5G wireless;
    • 38% say they “understand the fundamentals”;
    • 27% say they are “very familiar”; and
    • Executives based in Europe tend to be far better informed than their colleagues, with only 24% saying they know little or nothing, compared with 42% in Asia/Pacific and 40% in North America. Unsurprisingly, leaders in the technology industry are much better informed than their colleagues in other verticals
  • 26% say they are “extensively” exploring or planning how they might use 5G.
  • 15% say they are not planning at all. The companies sitting on the sidelines tend to be smaller and earn less revenue: 28% of executives at companies with revenues below $500 million say they aren’t making plans – five times as many as the 3% of executives who aren’t planning for 5G at $10 billion-plus organisations.
  • 80% believe that 5G technologies will have positive effects on multiple areas of their business. The areas where they’re most bullish about the benefits of 5G: customer experience, service/ product quality and worker productivity.

Comment

There is no doubt that in Australia the pent-up demand for 4G has nearly outstripped the technical capacity to deliver. Things like 4GX, VoLTE, Cat 6 to 11 or band aggregation are just band-aids. The world is going mobile, and Australia is an early adopter.

5G is not just a faster 4G – it is a complete rethink designed to keep up with the explosion of connections. It theoretically can provide stable 10Gbps data rates in perfect conditions or extremely high rates — “tens of megabits per second for tens of thousands of simultaneous users” — no more “Melbourne White Night” or footy data blackouts. It supports beacons, sensors, IoT devices and segregates them (kind of a Quality of Service issue) from voice and data and should achieve less than 1ms latency. It will make it possible to download 4K and VR content – in seconds to minutes, to send large medical files and X-rays, etc. It will be backwards compatible with existing 4G networks.

You can read more (not too technical) about 5G at GSMA Intelligence.

We will begin to see 5G devices and networks in commercial operation by 2020 – perhaps later in Australia. In the interim, the quest for standards goes on, and Huawei is a major player in this area.

By Ray Shaw
Posted on: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/73343-5g-the-key-to-speed,-connectivity,-and-capacity.html

 

Brisbane Hosting & Website Hosting’s products and services include Website Hosting, Domain Names, DNS Services, Website Development, Website Design, Website Revamps, Website Maintenance, Social Media Campaigns and more.

Contact Brisbane Hosting on (07) 3889 2977 or via email info@brisbanehosting.com.au for further information and quote today.