Kick off 2015 with a plan for better data backup in this week’s most popular posts [1/5/2015]

Have you been keeping up with our new content? Check out this roundup of our popular posts of the week, or our previous weeks’ Best of posts.

1) 6 steps to preparing for a backup solution

Heath Miller, one of our helpdesk experts, wrote up this step-by-step guide for small and medium-sized businesses looking to assess and select a new backup service.

“Some machines may need to be virtualized and you’ll need extra space to make that happen. Also, many backup services offer incremental backup, which is great, because it allows you to restore a past version of document and reduces the amount of full images you need to make saving time.”

2) 5 Things to know when purchasing Chromebooks

In April, the head of our sales team, Lance, put together this handy rubric for organizations interested in making the leap to Chromebooks. Anyone curious about outfitting their school or business should take a look and see how they might fit.

“Educate parents and the rest of the community about the expenditure in order to avoid any backlash. A large Chromebook deployment will probably make local newspaper headlines and so making sure people are in the know about what is going on with their students and businesses is important.”

3) Google to launch “Classroom”; Document management platform

In this post from last May, Dan P goes over the first details we got from Google regarding their “Classroom” project, a unique Google Drive interface designed with educators in mind. Now, Classroom is fully underway, and a big piece of Newmind’s Connected Classroom exhibit.

4) Innovation in business: Build IT session 1

This post recaps a talk from last year’s Build It Together Kalamazoo conference, from Newmind’s Chief Happiness Officer Dan Jefferies. In it, Dan explores how to be manage and initiate innovation in the workplace.

“Now, let’s say you have an idea. What do you do with it? Well, the first step is to experiment with it yourself! Afterward, gather what you’ve learned from it and then guess what? Do it again. And again. Be thorough because, chances are, the more you’ve learned and experimented with it yourself, the more convincing you’ll be when you present it to others.”

5) Chromebook mythbusting: What a Chromebook can do when the internet goes down!

We wanted to address a common misconception about Chromebooks—that they become big paperweights whenever you’re away from internet access. Because of this, we decided to rank the top 5 ways that you can use your Chromebook without the internet!

“First and foremost is the Google Docs suite—Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Drawings. A common misunderstanding, though, is that these thin office apps rely on the internet to function—not true! “Offline mode” isn’t activated by default on Chromebooks, but it’s a simple process, and once you’re back online, all of your data will automatically sync with Google Drive.”

Thanks for reading! Is there any content you’d like to see us cover in the future?