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Microsoft Is Cracking Down on Office Licensing...And Other Small Business Tech News This Week


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Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 — Microsoft's strategy: force enterprises to buy every traditional Office upgrade.

 

In a new round of support policy changes, Microsoft can now stop enterprises who use work-arounds to cut costs when they license MS Office Suite. The company changed the end-of-support for Office 2016’s right to connect to cloud-based services as it rolled out Office 2019. According to Microsoft’s latest announcement, organizations that want to run the traditional version of Office with Office 365 will need to license every version without skipping, ensuring the company a continuous revenue stream for Office. (Source: Computer World)

 

Why this is important for your business:

 

Here’s the bottom line: if you or your people are using an older, on-premise version of Office and you’ve been connecting to cloud based features like OneDrive or Skype then you’re probably not going to be able to this in the very near future unless you upgrade to an Office 365 license.  You better talk to Microsoft or your tech firm about your licensing options for 2019.

 

2 — AI can now catch lies on your expense report.

For companies that don’t have time to check everything on employee expense accounts, now there’s technology to do it for them. An AI accounting startup named AppZen is already helping firms such as Amazon, IBM, Salesforce, and Comcast and claims it has saved clients $40 million in fraudulent expenses since launching 18 months ago. AppZen says the technology frees up auditors to dig deeper into dubious claims and educate employees about travel and expense policies. (Source: Bloomberg)

 

Why this is important for your business:

 

I bet if you have travelling employees you sometimes wonder if all the expenses they’re charging are either legitimate or within your rules.  Maybe you’ve got someone reviewing expense reports or maybe you just don’t have the resources to do that.  AI-powered apps like AppZen will be able to automatically provide that oversight, potentially flag problems and save you money.  The big guys are using this now, but soon we’ll have other similar apps available for small companies to leverage.

 

3 — Verizon looks to expand 5G home broadband offering.

 

Verizon’s CFO says it plans to target a broader audience for its new 5G home broadband product following the adoption of global standards for the technology. As a result, the wireless carrier recently launched 5G home broadband in Houston, L.A., Indianapolis, and Sacramento, providing high-speed connections without having to lay cable, and it will offer 5G-enabled handsets in the first half of 2019. The company expects to get 30 million households connected in the next few years. (Source: U.S. News & World Report)

 

Why this is important for your business:

 

Verizon is expanding 5G commercially and for residential use – both affects your business because you’ve got people (I’m sure) working both from home and in the office.  5G connections will bring faster speeds, shorter data delays and faster data connections for you and your workers. It will enable web-based technologies, like Internet of Things devices, artificial intelligence, robotics and augment reality tools to work faster and more seamlessly.

 

4 — Ford, Walmart, and Postmates will begin testing autonomous-driving deliveries.

 

In an attempt to see how self-driving vehicles could impact the goods delivery market, Ford has partnered with Walmart and Postmates to run a trial in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The automaker is using Postmates delivery as a service and has set up a pilot program exploring how Ford’s research vehicles—which are designed to simulate an autonomous experience—can complement Walmart’s existing delivery offerings. These vehicles will enable Ford to pinpoint improvements it can make to enhance the self-driving delivery experience. (Source: Fast Company)

 

Why this is important for your business:

 

I’ve written before about how autonomous trucking will soon have a big impact on business shipping. This is kind of like it.  OK, we’re not talking trucks here, but we are talking about individual vehicles transporting goods (stuff bought by customers at Walmart) without a driver. Once big companies like Walmart nail this stuff done, look for similar services - like Postmates - that small merchants can also use.

 

5 — Poynt raises $100M for its smart payment terminal.  

 

Poynt, a California-based developer of smart payment terminals, has raised $100 million from National Australia Bank and Elavon, a U.S. Bank–owned payment processing company, for its terminals and an open operating system that powers any terminal worldwide. The money makes it possible for Poynt to expand to Asia, Europe, and South America. The company’s vision is to transform retail by becoming an innovation platform for payment terminals everywhere and to give developers a technical canvas to build the experiences merchants and their customers expect—so that visiting a local store will be more personal. (Source: Tech Crunch)

 

Why this is important for your business:

 

When people talk about point of sale and applications that integrate both in-store and ecommerce operations you generally hear about Shopify, Magento, Big Commerce and Revel, among a few others.  But if you're considering such a system, then you should also look Poynt. It's an up-and-comer and just raised $100 million to grow. The company provides a more open operating system for payment terminals that are deployed anywhere around the world and has a large digital marketplace of business apps that their community of third party developers have created.

 

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