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Construction Project Management Software Solutions

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Is Your PC Acting up? Check Out PC Manager

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So, you are out on a job site trying to get work done, but your PC is really slow. You check the internet connection, and it seems fine. What next?

Good news! Microsoft launched a new app called PC Manager. You might be wondering if there are already Windows settings for managing your PC. Yes, but this is better. How so? Read on to find out more.

Microsoft PC Manager App Features

I recently stumbled on a new PC Manager app on the Microsoft app store. I did a little research, found some videos, and thought I would try it.

Here are some highlights of the Microsoft PC Manager app:

  • An intuitive set of PC administration features organized in one modern application.
  • The health check option scans your PC to find areas to clean up temp files.
  • View a dashboard on your PC health.
  • Find large files that might be taking up too much storage.
  • Manage your Startup options and apps.
  • Uninstall apps.
  • Run a virus scan.
  • Check for Windows updates.
  • Manage browser settings.

So, is this new Microsoft PC Manager app a must-have? Not necessarily, but it will save a few clicks trying to find these settings on your PC. It is focused on administration tasks and is structured to navigate across protection, storage, and apps easily. I recommend trying it. If you do, let me know your thoughts.

Lydon Solutions is a full-service IT solutions provider focused specifically on Microsoft products for the construction industry. We specialize in delivering solutions using Microsoft 365 to save companies time and money. Fill out the form below to schedule a free one-hour demo.

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Is Microsoft Teams Premium worth it?

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Most organizations that use Microsoft 365 are familiar with Microsoft Teams. It’s Microsoft’s communication and collaboration program released in 2017 to compete with products like Slack, WebEx, Zoom, and Goto Meeting, but with the added benefit of integration across the Microsoft 365 suite of applications. Microsoft Teams is essentially a one-stop shop where you can communicate with a project team and can access your project data.

What Does Microsoft Teams Premium Include?

In 2023, Microsoft released Teams Premium as an add-on subscription service to Teams. You might be wondering what could warrant an additional cost for Teams. This new add-on service provides the following benefits:

Additional Meeting Types

  • Webinars – Webinars are different from a standard team meeting. Webinars allow the organizer to designate presenters and roles for participants. You can also create questionnaires for attendees, themed landing pages for registration, and view engagement reports. Lydon Solutions frequently uses Teams webinars for Microsoft 365 training and demonstrations of Construction Viz.
  • Town Hall – Town halls include all of the same features as webinars but provide the ability to deliver presentations for large-scale events with up to 20,000 attendees.
  • Virtual Appointment – Virtual appointments provide an all-in-one way to book and conduct virtual appointments. You can add a virtual appointment app to Teams to schedule and manage appointments using Microsoft Bookings. Teams Premium provides the additional benefit of SMS text reminders, waiting room branding, and analytics.
  • Controlled Content Meeting – CCM provides an additional layer of security for your meetings where you can add watermarks to audio, video, and shared content. You can also control who can record the meeting, utilize sensitivity labels, and prevent copying and pasting data from chats.
  • Live Event – Microsoft recommends upgrading to town hall events.

Other Premium Features

Immersive space (3D). While in a meeting, you can change the view to Immersive space (3D), which will render a Microsoft Mesh environment to interact with meeting attendees. You will need to have an avatar configured to make the most of this feature.

Branded meetings. You can create branded Teams meetings and backgrounds.

AI Meeting recap. AI-powered meetings and intelligent meeting recaps that automatically generates meeting notes, recommended tasks, and personalized highlights to help you get the information most important to you, even if you miss the meeting.

Final Thoughts on Microsoft Teams Premium

So, after reading about all of the Teams Premium features, you are thinking, “Get to the point—is it worth the additional cost?” As with my usual product reviews, the answer depends on the following:

  1. Do you want more robust meeting options such as webinars where attendees can register or present to large groups of people?
  2. Do you want to add another layer of security or custom branding to your meetings?
  3. Do you want AI to capture a summary of minutes and action items? It’s a neat feature that might save you time and frustration taking notes.

In Summary, Microsoft Teams Premium could be worth it to you and your organization if you would take advantage of its advanced features and extended meeting options.

Microsoft 365 is a powerful platform for managing all aspects of your business and operations. Due to its scale and breadth, it can be a little intimidating. You can reach out to Lydon Solutions for a free one-hour consultation where we can help you get on the right path for your organization.

If you want to learn more about using Microsoft Teams for construction project management, check out these Teams how-to articles:

Lydon Solutions is Keeping You in the “Loop” for Construction: Microsoft Loop Part II

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I've been trying out the latest updates to Microsoft Loop, and I thought it might be a good time to update the post I provided last year.

Microsoft Loop is a very interesting app that has a bit of an identity problem.

So, what is Microsoft Loop?

For those who are not familiar with Microsoft Loop, "it is a collaborative app that enables teams to think, plan, and create together across various apps and devices." Translated: Loop is If OneNote and Planner had a baby, but it gained mutant powers that allow it to work across Microsoft 365 apps.

Microsoft made Loop generally available in November of 2023. The word on the street is that Microsoft created Loop to compete with Notion, which is a productivity and note-taking application that has over 20 million users and is worth over $10B.

There are three main elements of Loop:

Loop workspaces

Workspaces "are shared spaces that allow you and your team to see and group everything important to your project, making it easy for you to catch up on what everyone is working on and track progress toward shared goals."

Workspaces are like OneNote sections where you can organize your work by project or client. Within workspaces, you create pages for each day or possibly a meeting minute.

Loop pages

Pages "are flexible canvases in the Loop app where you can bring together people and all your components, links, tasks, and data. Loop pages can start small and continue to grow to match the size of your ideas. Loop pages can be shared across M365 apps as a link or as an embedded Loop component."

Think of Loop pages like OneNote pages where you add notes, create meeting information, and so on.

Loop Components

Components are "portable pieces of content that stay in sync across all the places they are shared. Components allow you to collaborate in the flow of work — on a Loop page or in a chat, email, meeting, or document. They can be lists, tables, notes, and more — you're always working with the latest information in your preferred app, like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Word, Whiteboard, and the Loop app."

Think of components as stand-alone widgets that perform one or more functions like capturing notes, status tasks, creating a checklist, or all the above. If a component is created in Loop on a page, it can be shared with other apps to collect data from users and/or report progress. If you create a component outside of Loop in another application, it can still be shared and embedded into other apps, but it does not reside in the Loop application.

Takeaway. If you want to manage all your Loop components from one location, create them in Loop and then share them with users or other applications. Further, if you need specific functions (checklist, table, etc.) to be able to be updated across multiple applications, create them as components within a Loop page instead of just inserting them in a Loop page.

New Microsoft Loop Features

Microsoft has added a host of new features to Loop since 2023. Those include:

  • Create Loop page templates so you can reuse them in workspaces.
  • Create rules on tables to send workflows to Teams and Outlook.
  • Page inserts new features:
    • Now, you can insert dates, callouts, code, table of contents, and a divider.
    • New headers, including collapsible headers.
    • New templates, including a voting table, progress tracker, Kanban board, and Teams retrospective.
    • New Media: Add images and record a video. Even draw and add text to your media.
    • New app intergrations: GitHub, Microsoft Planner, Jira, and Trello.
  • New locations to embed components: Add components to Outlook desktop, Word, and Whiteboard.
  • Print pages: Although it seems to be hit or miss when this menu item appears.
  • Copilot for Microsoft 365 in Loop can help you get started with brainstorming, content drafting, and more.
  • The Loop app is available for Android and IOS. It's a very clean and intuitive modern app.

Advantages of Microsoft Loop

So why use Microsoft Loop over something like OneNote?

Extensibility and sharing

Loop workspaces and pages can be shared and updated in real-time by multiple users. If you create Loop components, you can add them to applications such as Teams chat, email (even Outlook desktop), or a document to collect or report data.

Create page templates

You can create page templates that can be reused in your workspaces.

Rules

You can easily add rules on pages or component tables to send off emails or Team chats. Users can then provide updates from those applications in real-time. For construction folks who might not be tech-savvy and do not want to go into a system, bringing Loop to them in their day-to-day applications is a huge plus for adoption.

Embed other applications

Applications can be inserted into Loop. For example, you don't have to go to Planner to create tasks; you can insert Planner into a Loop page or component.

Other factors to consider

Price

  • Loop is included in Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Premium, E3, E5, A3, and A5.
  • Loop workspaces and pages take up storage. Check with Microsoft for the latest pricing on additional storage if needed.

Storage

  • As of 25 June 2024, Loop workspaces and pages will now count towards an individual's Microsoft storage quota. Loop workspaces no longer have a 5GB maximum size.
  • Loop components created in Teams and Outlook are just .loop files (earlier versions of Loop-created .fluid files) stored in the creator's OneDrive. A file being in OneDrive means that users can create, discover, and manage Loop components (.loop files) as easily as any Office document.

Availability

  • To create Loop components, chat or email creators must have a OneDrive account.
  • Integration of Loop into other Microsoft 365 apps only includes Teams, Word, Outlook, OneNote, and Whiteboard at the moment.

Access

  • Microsoft 365 Guests can't view or collaborate on a Loop component.
  • External recipients of emails can't view or collaborate on a Loop component.
  • Workspaces can be shared with Guest Users.

In Summary, Microsoft Loop is a unique application. It's a little of this and a little of that. It shines with Loop components that can be created in Loop and then added to chats, documents, and emails to collect feedback.

While Loop doesn't seem to have received the reception Microsoft has probably expected, I have seen it used to collect meeting minutes on some projects. Time will tell regarding the future of Loop. I can see a day when OneNote absorbs the features of Loop or the other way around, and I think that will jumpstart adoption.

If you are looking to implement a Microsoft 365 application such as Loop to supplement your construction projects and need some help, you can request a free one-hour consultation with Lydon Solutions below. If you need a turnkey construction management solution for Microsoft 365, check out Construction Viz and click to request a demo.

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Surface Duo: Microsoft Thunk Differently

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As rumors are circulating regarding the end of the Microsoft Surface Duo Phone, I wanted to provide my perspective on owning the device for several years. I can hear the naysayers now. Microsoft phones are destined to die. I understand the skepticism of a Microsoft phone, but I’m writing this article to make the case that the Duo was a revolutionary device, full stop. Read on to find out how the Duo could have upset the mobile phone market.

I’ve been around for some time now, both in construction and IT. This year, Lydon Solutions will be 15 years old! Not only have we provided IT software solutions to the construction industry, but we have also provided hardware and support on some occasions. Over the years, several phone-like devices have completely changed our lives and, believe it or not, eventually led to a device like the Duo.

  • Palm Pilot (1996). The first real smart device without being a phone. Taking notes, adding tasks, and managing contacts on a handheld device was huge. I remember having one of these hanging from a belt clip😊. The Palm Pilot undoubtedly helped me be more productive and less forgetful.
  • Blackberry (1999). One of the most productive communication devices. Everyone had flip phones until this little device came out and changed the email game. The tiny keyboard for your thumbs and the wheel for scrolling was the perfect tool for reading and composing emails. It was the king of smartphones until Steve Jobs showed up.
  • iPhone (2007). Changed the game completely. The touchscreen interface and the iTunes app store changed the landscape forever. The iPhone was the first true smartphone you could use to take notes, send emails, listen to music, take photos, and more, thanks to a store full of apps. The iPhone is still the heavyweight champ for the most popular smartphone.
  • Surface Duo (2020). Yes, I have this device on the list. What the Duo did was change the form factor of mobile phones. So, instead of a single screen, you could now multitask. That might seem minor to the average iPhone user who uses their phone for Facebook, taking photos, and listening to music, but for a business user, it was huge. At any point in time, you could be in a Teams meeting and work in a browser on another screen or update an Excel file on one screen while sending out an email on another. This multi-screen smartphone is a significant productivity enhancement that will be copied in the future.
surface-duo_pic

Why the Microsoft Duo Was Not a Success

I know what you are thinking, so if it was so revolutionary, why would it go the way of all Microsoft Phones? Here are my thoughts on why it never took off:

  • Late to the game. Apple and Samsung dominate the cell phone market. This device might have gained better traction if it had been released five years earlier at the height of the Surface laptop craze.
  • Wrong market. Microsoft has a history of failed attempts to cater to the consumer market instead of the business market. Yes, the Duo can play games like a mini Xbox console, take photos, and access your social media app, but that’s not what makes it shine. It’s a productivity device.
  • Android OS. This OS is a pro and a con for the Duo. While Microsoft did not want to get caught in the same trap as previous Windows phones where no apps were available at launch, having an Android OS made it feel disconnected. Microsoft already had a great mobile OS platform, and Windows was being built for any device, so the choice of Android might have been a turn-off.
  • Buggy. When it was first released, some updates were needed for it to be usable. This can be expected with a first-to-market device, but the odds were already against Microsoft because of its past attempts to enter the mobile market, so this had to be perfect.
  • Clunky. While it was designed to be a small notepad, it didn’t fit in your pocket. Also, the camera wasn’t great, and it was awkward to trigger it to be outward-facing. The Duo also suffered from subpar hardware compared to other devices on the market.
  • Price. The Duo was a premium device for sure, but it was more expensive than any other phone.
  • Marketing. While Microsoft announced the device at a Surface event, it was not further promoted, especially in the business space. In fact, many AT&T stores did not even know what it was when I went on the hunt to find it.
  • Updates. Microsoft was very slow in releasing enhancements, and the Android OS updates were delayed. Microsoft has committed to three years of updates, and as of September of 2023, Microsoft is no longer releasing OS updates or security patches for the first Duo and only has another 12 months of advertised support for the second-generation model.

In summary, the Duo was revolutionary. It needed a few more iterations and much more marketing to get it to become a true business smartphone. Unfortunately, it seems to be going the way of Windows Mobile, which is a shame. With the Surface Duo on life support, which company will swing for the fence and develop the next revolutionary mobile device? And at this point, can only Apple or Samsung make it? I hope not. Could this device or some iteration of it be the future? And if so, could Microsoft have another crack at this with Copilot AI integrated with a Duo? I can only wish.

How AI-generated Images Like DALL-E2 Could Change Construction

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As most of you know, AI is not only the buzzword of the day but is particularly interesting because it will also be a big part of Microsoft 365 and Bing. Being a Microsoft solutions provider for the construction industry, Lydon Solutions is always looking at future tech and how we can leverage new technology to deliver the best value to our clients. In this article, we’ll touch on how DALL-E works, where this could be valuable in construction, and some results from our own experiences with DALL-E2. Read on to find out more.

What is DALL-E2?

In late 2022, Microsoft announced it was integrating DALL-E2 into the new Microsoft 365 Designer application and Bing Image Creator Tool. While neither tool is available to test yet, OpenAI provides the DALL-E2 beta for trials. You can sign up here and try it out: DALL·E 2 (openai.com)

New Microsoft 365 Designer DALL-E2 AI image creator

It’s essential to be familiar with how DALL-E2 works to understand the types of results and potential applications. OpenAI, the same developers of ChatGPT, built DALL-E2. It uses natural language to generate digital images. OpenAI trained DALL-E2 to learn the relationship between images and the text used to describe them. It uses a process called “diffusion,” which starts with a pattern of random dots and gradually alters that pattern towards an image when it recognizes specific aspects of that image. DALL-E2 can generate original images from text prompts and expand or edit existing images.

Examples of DALL-E2’s capabilities

To show you how it works, we did a couple of queries where we typed the following sentences:

Example 1

Text prompt: “illustration of construction people in a meeting in an office with computers.”

Example 2

We then asked a client on a call to think of a completely random image they would want to see, and we typed it in as a prompt.

Text prompt: “Dog platter bananas at daycare.”

Crazy right?!?

These results are pretty impressive, but you can see that DALL-E struggles with photorealistic organic objects. In fact, human faces and bodies can look pretty creepy. We must remember this is only the second version so I can see this improving as time passes.

Ok, so how would I use this with construction?

It’s always fun to imagine how new technology could change an industry like construction. For starters, here are some of the many construction applications where this technology would be a benefit:

  • Design renderings. You could create renderings of a construction design using BIM images, locations, angles, lighting, etc. The complete process could take minutes instead of days.
  • Marketing and proposal images. Coming up with marketing designs from scratch can be a challenge. You could have custom material generated in seconds by entering a few descriptions.
  • Image editing. On any construction project, many images taken might require editing in a program like Photoshop. DALL-E2 could do this for you without you having to learn Photoshop.
  • Image comprehension. This one might be a bit of a stretch and would most likely require a ton of AI learning, but think about the ability to have photos of assets taken by a drone, like that of a transmission tower, and using this technology to understand everything in the image including any defects. If the system could analyze the image data and automatically collect and assimilate rework and repairs into a punch list report emailed to a project team, you could have a completely autonomous inspection solution. An automated AI system of this kind could revolutionize construction inspections entirely. Not a bad business idea 😊

In summary, DALL-E2 is a groundbreaking AI image technology that will make its way into your everyday workstream and will be available in Microsoft 365 soon. Now is probably the right time to discuss the pros and cons of using this technology within the construction community.

Lydon Solutions will continue doing its part to understand and share our knowledge of these new technologies affecting Microsoft 365. We hope these articles help you imagine what’s possible and how to use these technologies on your projects. If you need help with Microsoft 365 for your projects or a turnkey construction management solution like Construction Viz, you can reach out for a free one-hour consultation here.

What Value Does Microsoft 365 Bring to an Organization? (According to ChatGPT)

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Microsoft 365 has a lot of value to offer both individuals and businesses. Some of the key benefits of using the suite include:

  • Increased Productivity: The tools within Microsoft 365, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, are designed to help users be more efficient and productive in their daily tasks. The ability to collaborate and share files in real-time with OneDrive and SharePoint make teamwork and document management effortless.
  • Flexibility and Accessibility: Microsoft 365 allows you to access your documents and files from anywhere, at any time, using any device. This makes it an ideal solution for remote work, as well as for businesses with employees in different locations.
  • Security and Compliance: Microsoft 365 includes built-in security features to protect your data, as well as compliance with industry standards. You can trust that your data is protected and can be compliant with regulations and standards.
  • Cost-effective: Subscribing to Microsoft 365 can be more cost-effective than purchasing individual licenses for each of the applications in the suite. Microsoft 365 subscription also include updates and upgrades to the software automatically, you will always have access to the latest features and tools
  • Better Communication and Collaboration: The communication and collaboration features of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint make it easier for teams to stay connected, share information, and work together on projects. This improves productivity and can help teams to work more efficiently.
  • Improved Data Management: With the use of SharePoint and OneDrive, it is easy to organize and manage files, shared content, and team sites. It also makes it easy to find and share files, track changes and maintain version history.

Overall, Microsoft 365 is an essential tool for anyone looking to increase productivity, stay organized, and improve collaboration. It offers a comprehensive set of features that can help businesses and individuals to be more efficient, effective, and secure. It's subscription-based pricing makes it accessible to small and large businesses alike.

— Post was written by ChatGPT