We've all heard one company or another trot out the old line that its employees are its most valuable resource. At Hostway, we're part team and part family. So when tragedy affects one, it resonates with us all.

For Chris Harl, a leading business development consultant at Hostway, the concern within his own family had been building for some time. His mother-in-law's health was deteriorating.

“Five years ago, I started noticing a change in my mother,” Harl's wife, Tarah, said. “I had an idea of what it might be, but since she was so young, I had to fight to get a diagnosis.”

Soon after celebrating her 61^st birthday, Melanie Sullivan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Nationwide, someone is diagnosed every 67 seconds.

Alzheimer's is a progressive brain disease that slowly destroys cognitive abilities, eventually making even the simplest tasks difficult. Melanie's case was unusually early in its onset; symptoms normally appear after age 65.

“The hardest part for me is that my mother is not beside me to enjoy her granddaughters and give me motherly advice,” Tarah said.

Support efforts to end Alzheimer’s

To stand by Melanie, Chris and Tarah have coordinated with the Alzheimer’s Association to set up a Walk to End Alzheimer’s to take place September 19 to benefit Melanie and countless others living with the disease. Hostway has committed $500 towards matching employee donations before the walk date.

You can support them with a donation, or join the team to see how you can help. You can also visit Alz.org to learn more and find a Walk near you.

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success". -Henry Ford

The Alzheimer’s Association was founded with the intent of eliminating the disease through advancing research, to support and care for those affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia by promoting brain health.

“Our family is sincerely grateful that Hostway has decided to join us in our journey, supporting an effort that is so near and dear to our whole family,” Chris said.

Last week, we announced the arrival of a new and improved email platform from Open-Xchange. Many of you have already logged into your new email system and are enjoying the intuitive user interface and improved performance. What you may not know is that this new cloud email solution is more than just email.

OX Collaborate offers some key features designed to help your business be more efficient, productive and professional. Collaborate introduces shared calendars and contacts, file versioning and sharing, and seamless integration with the social media activities.

Remote Collaboration: Obtain teamwork nirvana when you give employees the following abilities:

• Share calendars and schedule meetings
• Store files and attachments online for easy access and versioning control
• Assign tasks and projects
• Create distribution lists and access global contacts
• Remote access anytime, anywhere from any device

With OX Collaborate, even if you’re apart you can work together. Learn more at our website, or by attending our live demo of your email solution on August 20 at noon CT.

Many of our customers are still getting use to Open-Xchange’s App Suite. Along with this introductory video and our upcoming live product demonstration, we’d like to provide you another five tips for using your new email and collaboration tool.

Be even more productive with OX App Suite:

Check out these additional tools.

1. When you receive an email with multiple people in the “to” list, you can click on “Actions” which will open a dropdown list.
2. You can select “Send new mail,” “Invite to appointment” or “Save as distribution list.”
3. If you select “Send new mail,” it will create a new email with all of the contacts who were in the original email.
4. If you select “Invite to appointment,” it will bring you into the "Create Appointment" box and it will include all of the contacts that were in the original email.
5. If you select “Save as distribution list,” you’ll create a distribution list with these contacts.

Did you know? You can use Halo view to get a complete overview of your correspondence with a contact. From Halo view, within the email section, you can click on any contact and it will bring up recent conversations, shared appointments; if you are connected via social media, you'll learn more. You can also click on any meeting to get all of its details, and click on files to preview the file.

 

Scheduling Appointments in OX App Suite:

Plan your team’s huddle time.

1. Click on the Calendar tab.
2. To schedule an appointment, select a time in the calendar, then click and drag the desired time frame.
3. The “Create appointment” box will appear. Just fill in the details and select the participants.
4. Click “Create” and your appointment will be sent to all of the participants.

Did you know? You can see when your co-workers are available for a meeting. In the Calendar tab, click "New" and the "Create Appointment" box will appear. Enter the desired participants into an appointment, then click “Find a free time.” This will bring up a calendar with all of the participants you added. Pick the ideal time and your appointment will be updated. Then click “Create” and your appointment will be sent to all of the participants.

Tasks:

Stay on top of important projects and be more productive.

1. Click on the Tasks tab.
2. Click "New" to open the "Create Task" box.
3. Fill in the Subject and the Description of the task; click on “Expand form” for additional options.
4. You can create a “Start date” and a “Due date.” You can also set up reminders and assign participants to be notified of the task.

Did you know? With OX App Suite you can set an automatic out-of-office response by clicking on the gear at the top right of your screen and selecting “Settings.” There, on the left menu section, select “Autoresponder.” Enter the subject and the body text of your out-of-office response e-mail. Click on “Enabled” to start sending out of office replies.  Don’t forget to un-tick the “Enabled” box when you do no want to send out-of-office replies.

This week, many of our customers are working with Open-Xchange’s App Suite for the first time. Along with this introductory video and our upcoming live product demonstration, we’d like to provide you five quick tips for getting your feet underneath you on your new email and collaboration tool.

Setup Your Email on OX App Suite:

Getting started is simple.

1. Log into your SiteControl Account
2. Click on “Setup and Manage Email”
3. Click on the green button “Create Email Address”
4. Follow the steps and click the button “Create Email Address”
5. Click on “Inbox” next to the Email Address you’d like to start using
6. You will be prompted to setup your Password Recovery Options
7. Start using your new email account

Did you know? You can access your email by simply typing https://webmail.hostway.com/appsuite/signin into your browser.

Customize Your Portal:

Get a single view of all of your important emails, appointments, social media profiles and more.

1. To add a Twitter feed, click the “Portal” tab, then select “Click here to add your account link”
2. Follow the instructions on that page to view and manage these feeds from your Portal
3. Add additional online media by clicking on “Add Widget” and selecting from the options in the dropdown box
4. To customize the appearance of your Portal, you can drag and drop the widgets to rearrange them. Click “Customize this page” to change color settings and perform other changes

Did you know? You can access your email real-time on your smartphone with Active Sync. Active Sync is included in the “Sync” and “Collaborate” packages. You can upgrade to the Collaborate package within SiteControl.

Composing an Email:

Nothing complicated about sending messages here.

1. Click the “Mail” tab
2. Click “Compose” to open a new email
3. Add the recipient addresses. You can copy or blind copy recipients by clicking and adding the email addresses
4. Add an attachment by either clicking “Add Attachment” or dragging files to the blue box

Did you know? You can add manage all of your email accounts from one convenient location. When logged into your email, click “Add mail account” under the “Mail” tab, then add the new email address and your password and click “Add” to include it with your OX account.

Add Your Signature:

Give your outgoing emails a professional look.

1. Click the gear icon at the top right of your screen, then click “Settings” in the dropdown box
2. On the left side, select “Mail”
3. Scroll down to the section called “Signatures” and select “Add new signature”
4. Type a name for your signature in the “Signature name” box
5. Type in the signature that you'd like to display in your outgoing emails
6. Choose the position where you'd like your signature to be displayed, then click “Save”

Did you know? You can add contacts from LinkedIn and many other applications. Click the “Address Book” tab, right-click “Contacts” and select “New Subscription,” then select a source for importing contacts. Follow the instructions, then click “Subscribe” to add a new folder for those contacts.

Locate Past Email via Search Function:

Never lose track of those crucial communications.

1. Click the magnifying glass symbol in the right corner
2. Type your search term in the “Search” box
3. Select which section of App Suite you’d like to search within
4. Then select the appropriate folder you’d like to search within

Did you know? You can add calendars from Google and other applications. Manage your meetings and events in one place. Click the “Calendar” tab, right-click on “Calendar” and pick “New Subscription” to select an imported calendar source. Follow the instructions, then click “Subscribe” to see both your work and personal calendars in the same place.

Stay tuned for our next five tips as we move beyond the basics of OX App Suite.

Is Microsoft  Windows 10 a hit or miss? Despite the over 14 million downloads it produced within the first 24 hours of its launch, the jury is still out. While Microsoft has clearly put in the effort to step up its game, there are both positives and negatives associated with this operating system upgrade.

With each update, Microsoft aims to increase the ease of use of its signature product. Sometimes we love what they come up with; other times, we become frustrated over the functionalities discarded from previous versions.

After the bust that was Microsoft 8, this upgrade was highly anticipated. Without a doubt, Windows 10 gives users some things missing from earlier versions, providing a breath of fresh air with new features worthy of the buzz.

Windows 10 features that won't disappoint

As Cnet's review notes, one change that leaps out at you is the resizable Start Menu. Users can now customize the amount of screen space the start menu occupies. Among Windows 10's other upgrades is the sprucing up of a handy feature called Microsoft Snap, which allows users to drag a window they are working with to the side, and it will then snap to the edge of your screen. Other open displays, like internet browsers or Control Panels, will be shown as thumbnails. Another beneficial, new feature that Tech Radar points out is the Action Center, an information hub for your PC. This mirrors many smartphones' presentation of everything running on your machine.

Microsoft Windows 10 Reviews to address the update issues

Some of the negative response to Windows 10 has revolved around the excess space that the installation files consume. Windows 10 does not discard the 5 gigs of unnecessary data after the install completes. Instead, it's in a hidden file that is difficult to find unless you know where to look. It's a real mess that's hidden under the rug.

Concern has also been expressed over some of the default privacy settings of the new operating system. The Register is among sites that correctly point out that users should examine these settings soon after completing installation.

Still, as Dark Reading points out, several Windows 10 changes provide additional security from previous iterations.

Should you stay, or should you go to Microsoft Windows 10?

So: Should you download the newest Windows for all its fabulous features, despite the chores that it immediately creates? Most expert reviews agree that the answer is yes, but the choice is yours to make. Weigh the benefits and consider what you need to make your time spent on the computer pleasant and efficient. Because, as Microsoft's slogan for Windows 10 says, they're seeking the “more human way to do” everything on your computer.

We all have our favorite foods that, try as we might, we simply can't resist. Mine happens to be the ooey-gooey, sweet goodness that is the Cinnabon. It's not just the warm, flakey cake smothered in cinnamon, it's the sugary frosting that really ties it all together. The e-commerce industry could learn a thing or two from these masters of pastry about enticing consumers.

The world of e-commerce is more competitive than ever before, with mom-and-pop shops now able to access tools that level the playing field with industry giants. It's increasingly important to attract new and existing customers and encourage interactions, so businesses are looking for strategies to make these connections possible.

So how can you harness the temptation factor of your favorite food and apply it to your e-commerce business to stay top-of-mind for consumers? Let's take a look at how to make your company as tempting as a Cinnabon:

1) Tailor, customize and personalize
One way to become irresistible is to offer customers a more personalized experience using product recommendations and customized deals. Give the shopper something they won't see anywhere else. This boosts the chance that they'll not only visit more often, but make more planned and impulse purchases as well.

Practical Ecommerce contributor Armando Roggio pointed out that personalization in the e-commerce industry is similar to dating - the brand has to be willing to take a few risks to capture the attention of its clients. Roggio recommended working to understand the interests of each consumer, and being available to their clients when they need assistance.

2) Reach out on a frequent basis
When I see a Cinnabon - especially the one that's mere blocks from my house - it's hard not to crave the cinnamon-y goodness. E-commerce brands can use a similar approach to make their customers crave an interaction with the brand.

Instead of waiting for shoppers to come to you, tempt them with regular communications, including email campaigns, mobile app notifications and social media posts. Email messages are another opportunity for the brand to tailor content for customers by including names, product recommendations or special deals on items in the shopper's wish list. Frequent communication with the brand makes an interaction - and an eventual purchase - hard to resist.

3) Offer deals on the items your customers want
Discounts are tempting, but not as enticing as a deal on a specific item that a customer has been eyeing. If your favorite restaurant offered 20 percent off your favorite entrée, wouldn't it be difficult not to eat out that night?

Take personalization a step further by offering specials on items that shoppers have viewed before or have added to their wish list. Notifying a customer that the price of a product has changed or that shipping has been discounted encourages an interaction with the brand that will likely lead to a transaction.

4) Ensure they don't have to wait
Once you've attracted the customer to the website there's one last piece to the puzzle: Ensure they don't have to wait for slow-loading pages.

KISSmetrics noted that a slow website can directly impact customer interactions. In fact, companies stand to lose a staggering 25 percent of their business if pages take more than four seconds to load. Considering that the average e-commerce site took nearly double that to load in 2014, it's possible that your brand has some work to do.

One way to prevent waiting is to utilize a robust hosting provider like Hostway. We can ensure your brand has the capacity it needs to support a fast website, as well as tools like Magento and other solutions crafted especially for e-commerce.

To find out more, contact Hostway today.

An android flaw currently unpatched by major manufacturers would allow hackers to break into your phone without any mistake on your part.

The Stagefright vulnerability impacts 95 percent of existing Android devices – numbering nearly 1 billion phones and other equipment – via multimedia messaging. A malware video file would be processed immediately upon receipt – you won't even have to open the message, if you're using the Hangout application, while if you're using the default messaging application, opening the message will trigger integration of the harmful code.

Once the phone is compromised, a subsequent MMS message would allow the hacker to write code, steal data, record audio or video, or access Bluetooth.

In May, Google accepted the patches required to fix the issues. But Android phone manufacturers including Samsung, Sony, Motorola, LG, Lenovo and HTC have not yet addressed the problem, lacking a financial incentive to do so.

Recently, industry leader Amazon blazed a trail with its Prime Day event, promising specials and discounts that were unavailable to customers on Black Friday. While it came and went with mixed reviews from customers, Prime Day did showcase one way retailers can make a splash – so long as they're prepared for the resulting influx of customers.

Many brands host events like this, offering deep discounts and other incentives to customers to boost their client base and revenue. However, one important aspect to keep in mind here is preparation – the company's online platform, in particular, must be ready to handle the large number of consumers rushing to take advantage of these deals.

Learn from the past – Prepare for additional traffic before online sales

It may seem obvious to have extra support and resources in place to handle the increase in customers during a large event. However, some companies get caught unprepared.

CDNetworks reported that there were several notable website crashes during the 2013 holiday season in particular, where retailers simply didn't have adequate support to account for the considerable boost in demand. Big names including Walmart, Motorola and Canada-based Future Shop were all inundated with customers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and some customers were unable to access the discounts they were promised.

This can be considerably damaging for the brand, and have a negative impact on the company's reputation. But it's not just a website crash that can cause business to suffer – if a website isn't performing as quickly or optimally as it should, shoppers will likely seek out a competitor. For this reason, it's imperative to ensure ahead of time that the platform is ready to support clients' needs during a large event.

Preparation checklist: Website Security

What should retailers prioritize as part of their preparations? KISSmetrics advised putting security at the top of the list, especially in advance of a big sale. In addition to regular shoppers, an online sale could also attract the attention of cybercriminals with malicious intent.

When examining security, KISSmetrics recommended performing an audit with the help of an expert consultant to pinpoint any weak spots in the company's infrastructure. In addition, retailers should also run cyberattack scenarios to see how their platform would react to an infiltration. These activities will provide a blueprint for protection improvements, illuminating specific areas in need of patches or better safeguards.

It's also important that the security in place provides peace of mind for the customer, as well as the brand.  It's common practice – and required by industry guidelines – to have SSL protection in place. KISSmetrics suggested ensuring that the trust seals associated with the certificate are prominently displayed so customers know their sensitive information will be protected.

Test for traffic spikes before an online sale

In addition to website security, it's also essential to test the website to see how it will react to the target influx of customers that will come to take advantage of the online sale or event. Hosting providers recommend a few best practices when it comes to load testing, including pinpointing testing goals and initial benchmarks, as well as deciding on the data collection methods, scripts and testing environment that will be used.

Tests will often uncover common issues including needs for improved compression, a content delivery network, more efficient code or full page caching to enhance performance. Once the problems are pinpointed, the IT team can work to mitigate these problems to help ensure the best experience possible for shoppers.

Scale hosted resources to account for boosted demands

The final, and perhaps most important, piece of the puzzle concerns hosted resources. A robust hosting partner can help the company scale its environment appropriately to ensure the proper support is in place for the rise in customer demand. This will not only prevent the website from crashing, but will also ensure that the platform is as responsive as possible and performs at its best.

To find out more, contact Hostway today.

Prepare for your new Hostway communication solution.

OX App Suite is almost here, and all current Hostway email and web hosting customers will be upgraded. This new solution will give our customers a more efficient portal, a better-performing platform and an improved user experience. Users will simply need to click on the link provided in the launch email to access OX App Suite.

Customers who need more than our basic OX Mail offering can sign up for some advanced features with OX Collaborate, including Shared Contacts, Calendars & Tasks, ActiveSync Files, and Online File Storage & Collaboration.

OX App Suite provides a modern, feature-rich, centralized email and collaboration setup for small to medium-sized businesses:

• Consolidate Your Work & Personal Accounts
• Collaborate Like Never Before
• Access Data from Anywhere on Any Device
• Cost-Effective

OX App Suite gives you an enterprise communication platform for all devices, enabling you to bring your digital lives together.

If you’re already a customer on this product, be on the lookout for an email containing details about how to login to your new email solution.

Learn more about all the elegant features included in this new solution by attending our live demo of your email solution on August 20 at noon CT.

 

When a business begins its journey to the cloud, the road to implementation can seem long and full of obstacles. Migrating to the cloud is certainly no easy feat, but when decision-makers and key IT employees have a full understanding of their business's needs, its available options and best practices for implementation, many of the potholes along the way can be avoided.

There are several factors enterprise administrators and IT staff should take into consideration when selecting a cloud environment. These will not only help streamline the decision-making and roll-out processes, but will also help ensure that the company puts the best technology in place to meet its current and future needs.

Step 1: Understanding what the business needs from a hosting service

While many administrators want to jump to the selection process right away, it is imperative that they first look internally and examine the requirements the organization has for its cloud solution.

For instance, decision-makers should first determine what information will be migrated to the cloud-based platform and what data will remain housed in on-premises equipment. Taking a look at the types of content that will be deployed in the cloud will help inform the type of cloud that is chosen. Specifically, administrators should decide if the data that will be sent to the cloud needs a high level of protection, or if this information is less confidential.

IT Business Edge also recommended factoring in the governance and oversight requirements the company has in its industry. Certain sectors have rules in place governing the locations data is allowed to be kept, i.e., inside or outside the country. Other industries have specific guidelines for the security and overall treatment of data in the cloud. It is imperative that stakeholders select the cloud that will help the business adhere to these rules.

Finally, administrators should consider whether or not the organization is poised for future growth. This will help managers decide on the amount of scalable space they will initially have available to them, and if they will need to expand the cloud platform in the future. For instance, if the company is in the process of completing a corporate merger, it will not only need space for its own data, but also for that of its new partner.

Step 2: Understanding the available cloud hosting service options

Currently, there are three main types of cloud environments: public, private and hybrid. Each of these offers different levels of security and cost points which should line up with the business's main needs.

A public cloud is traditionally the lowest cost cloud platform, but doesn't offer the robust security that a private cloud does. Inc. contributor and Tribridge CEO Tony DiBenedetto noted that in a public cloud environment, users share software, hardware, the operating system and other data center resources with other users. In the past, providers have offered public clouds to provide smaller companies with access to software that might have been out of their reach in the past.

A private cloud offers more in the way of security, flexibility and performance, as the only element being shared in this environment is the provider's infrastructure. In this way, the user has greater control and isolation for its software and overall operating system. A private cloud also ensures that an outage won't impact other users, as components are kept separately.

"A company's business applications and database are stored on its own virtual layer, essentially creating a protective bubble around your data," DiBenedetto wrote. "The virtual layer is software that allows the application to use shared hardware and still remain protected."

For those needing a mix of these two types of environments, there is the hybrid cloud model. This platform is a customized resource that combines elements of private and public structures, enabling applications and resources to reside in the environment that best suits the business's needs.

In recent years, hybrid clouds have become more popular. Last year, research firm Gartner recommended that "enterprises should design private cloud services with a hybrid future in mind and make sure future integration/interoperability is possible."

Step 3: Understanding implementation of cloud hosting

Once a specific environment has been chosen, administrators should closely examine the Service Level Agreement to ensure that they fully understand their hosting services. TechTarget pointed out that some SLAs can use vague terms to help make it easier for providers. Specifically, stakeholders should take a look at data availability, what constitutes an outage and how the vendor will respond in the event of downtime.

When it comes to the actual roll-out process, SmartDataCollective recommended leveraging the expertise of the provider to ensure the technology is implemented properly.

"The work done by the experts always come[s] out better than an amateur," SmartDataCollective noted. "Therefore, we recommend using experts...to make the change."

Finally, managers and supervisors must ensure that their employees understand how to utilize the new cloud-based system. In some cases, such as when an application is moved from on-premises equipment to the cloud, not much will change. Other instances, like when files or databases are migrated, will require users to take a new set of steps to access this information. In both cases, higher-ups should put training processes in place to guarantee that staff members will be able to make the most of the new cloud solution.