Since You're Here (October 2024)

Watch Out for Ads as You Browse the Internet

As you navigate the web, it’s crucial to stay vigilant about the ads you encounter. Recent reports highlight that Google searches have become a significant target for malvertising hackers. These malicious ads can lead to harmful websites or download malware onto your device or get you to give them sensitive data. Always ensure your browser and security software are up-to-date, and be cautious about clicking on ads, especially those that seem too good to be true.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/05/google-searches-big-target-for-malvertising-hackers.html

Mastering VLOOKUP in Excel

I’m not an Excel guru, but I would consider myself a light power user. VLOOKUP is one of my favorite and most used functions. Excel’s VLOOKUP function is a powerful tool for anyone dealing with large datasets. If you’re looking to enhance your Excel skills, check out this informative video tutorial on VLOOKUP here. The video covers everything from the basics to advanced tips, making it easier to find and analyze data efficiently.

https://youtu.be/xIynD1gFOLo?si=5DRXtRKua-AFltrU

The Importance of Subject Matter Experts for Your Major Line of Business Applications

In today’s fast-paced business environment, having subject matter experts (SMEs) for your major line of business applications is more critical than ever. SMEs bring specialized knowledge and experience that can help streamline processes, improve decision-making, and ensure that your applications are used to their fullest potential. Investing in SMEs can lead to better performance, reduced errors, and a more robust business strategy overall.

Our primary line of business applications here at Harness Group are ConnectWise and Office 356 admin center among others. We require regular general and specialized training so that we can stay up to date on the use of the software and gain efficiencies as new features are rolled out. Every staff member has a baseline understanding of our platforms, but some of us go further so that we can be our own internal support for the tool.

Each of our clients has their own line of business applications where it would be of major benefit to invest in an SME(s) to help use your software to its fullest potential day to day. We help as best we can with software-related troubleshooting among the hundreds of pieces of software that our clients use daily, but someone who is in the software day in and day out with this specialized training is going to be a massive asset in the nuances of their company’s software setup, configuration, inner workings and functions.

NotebookLM - AI is starting to show promise for us common folks

NotebookLM is an experimental AI-powered research and writing assistant developed by Google. It allows users to upload their documents and then leverages the power of language models to provide insights, summaries, and explanations based on those sources. This tool is designed to help users synthesize information more efficiently by generating summaries, answering detailed questions, and converting complex material into easy-to-understand formats. NotebookLM aims to be a virtual research assistant, making it easier to connect ideas and gain deeper understanding from the documents you upload. One of its coolest features is that it has the ability to make an AI generated audio podcast with two AI hosts from documents that you upload! NotebookLM isn't something that we sell or support, but I wanted to share what we're seeing in the AI space as it progresses. Here are a couple of links to the NotebookLM site, and a Forbes article about the podcast feature:

https://notebooklm.google/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2024/10/04/how-to-create-an-ai-podcast-about-anything-in-seconds-with-notebooklm/