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The Pros And Cons of BYOD

In the world of mobile devices, usage falls into 2 main categories: personal and professional use. Thanks to the wide spread nature of mobile devices, the defining line between the two is getting blurred.

Having a device dedicated for work is no longer necessary. We instinctually pull out our smartphone or tablet to email a colleague or review a file while on the commute home. And with the help of cloud services and online sharing services, you can access your work from anywhere.

Yet whether you know it or not, using personal mobile technology for professional use is affecting workplaces on a large scale. How? Here’s a general look at what you need to know about this rapidly growing trend how it could potentially change the way you work.

What is BYOD?

BYOD or “Bring Your Own Device,” is exactly what it sounds like—bringing in your own device to the workplace. Thanks to laptops, smartphones and tablets, BYOD is a trend everyone is already taking part in. No doubt you’ve taken your mobile device to work, and have probably even taken it a step further by accessing your company’s networks and systems. Well, that’s the BYOD trend in a nutshell.

The state of BYOD

However, because these are employee-owned devices, businesses that support this trend need to develop regulations to accommodate them. Currently, there are companies like TrendMicro and Unisys, working to help develop BYOD strategies to make it easy for all parties to access and interact with company databases and servers safely.

Although as popular as it is to work “on-the-go,” BYOD is still a widely debated topic in data intense work environments.

The Pros & Cons of BYOD

Off the top, there are advantages which businesses and employees can gain . You can work anywhere, any time. The hardware is affordable, accessible and you can download any productivity app you need.

Combine that with company resources and IT workflows and your device becomes your most powerful productivity tool. It’s a dream for users who value productivity over location. Added benefits for adopting BYOD include:

Increases productivity; faster response rates
Companies save money on purchasing hardware
The choice of system and device is up to the employee
Flexible work hours; employees can work from home
Direct access to company resources and systems (no need for third party services)
A variety of apps can be used or integrated into workflows (document processing apps)

Yet, organizations are slow to adopt BYOD as a regular business practice. Mobile device management is a major concern for IT managers. For example, changes in mobile platform or device are crucial.

Whether it be Microsoft ending mainstream support for Windows Phone 8 or the critical release of RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform, how does IT provide adequate support and security for all individual users?

Other issues keeping companies from integrating the BYOD model:

Lack of consistency in the quality of apps
Compatibility issues between apps and colleagues
Data breaches
Liability for devices if lost or hacked
Difficult for IT to maintain control over files and data being shared
Hardware and software support (power requirements, memory storage)
Employees invest their own resources to buy new devices and apps

BYOD: Stats at a Glance

Is your company looking to jump on the BYOD bandwagon? Here’s a visual look at where the BYOD trend stands so far. Where do you and your company fall on this infographic?:

BYOD 2013 Infographic

Source: The Magic Blog

Overall, it’s good to have a sense of the issues surrounding BYOD and what to expect. If your company is going BYOD, get the 411 on the regulations and policies they have in place.

You can stay up to date with the latest BYOD developments on ZDNet.com.

AccountingToday.com Awards Able2Extract 8 An Honourable Mention As One Of 2013’s Top New Products

We have some great news for this month.

Major online tax and accounting website, AccountingToday.com, released their annual review of noteworthy accounting software tools, The 2013 Top New Products, and our very own Able2Extract 8 made the list!

Covering industry news, offering expert analysis, and reviewing a select database of professional resources and services, AccountingToday.com is a leading authority for the tax and accounting industry.

Able2Extract 8 was counted among the other highly regarded accounting and tax software tools reviewed in The 2013 Top New Products. It was featured and noted by editors in the Spreadsheet Tools Category for enabling PDF-to-spreadsheet conversion and aiding auditor control.

We’re extremely grateful to have Able2Extract 8 reviewed and given an honourable mention. This recognition is a great stepping stone for us as their leading tech review experts “are confident that this year’s list is a good representation of what is truly worthy of attention.”

Thank you to Seth Fineberg and AccountingToday.com for their support!

Customizing Your PDF To Word Conversions With Able2Extract 8

With Able2Extract 8 there were a few changes in layout that may have had you wondering if Able2Extract backtracked and scaled back on its PDF to Word options.

It hasn’t. Able2Extract’s PDF to Word conversion options are still there and still fully functional.

Obviously, how you work with MS Word will constantly change—as will your editing needs. After last week’s release of MS Office 2013, for instance, you may already be exploring new features, taking advantage of MS Word 2013 and all it has to offer. Well, Able2Extract is no stranger to MS Word, and it’s for updates like those that we continue to include Able2Extract’s variety of PDF to Word options.

So this week we bring them to the forefront to show you what our PDF to Word variety is all about and how each option can accommodate how you work within MS Word.

In Able2Extract 8, the PDF to Word conversion options can be found within the File menu under the Convert to Word… conversion command. Hover over it to expand the menu. The options will be activated once your content is selected for conversion:

Able2Extract PDF to Word Options

Convert to Word- Standard

We always have this as the default and recommended PDF to Word conversion option. This is because it offers the most accuracy and editability for MS Word documents.

Able2Extract PDF to Word Standard

A PDF to Word Standard conversion will retain background graphics, as a background image in the converted output, and the textual layout using the layout of the original PDF document for guidance. For most documents, this will provide the best looking output for general purposes and quick conversions.

Convert to Word- Frames

Though it will preserve content just as well as the Standard conversion, the Frames option will give you slightly different results. The converted PDF to Word output will retain the background graphics and layout of the selected pages and items, but with the text appearing in individual text boxes in a new Word document, like so:

Able2Extract PDF to Word Frames

This conversion is ideal if you prefer or need to work with text boxes which can be moved within a document. For instance, if the placement of text and graphics are a priority, as it is in publications, converting PDF content into frames will let you position and re-position your content around easily.

Under certain circumstances, because the text boxes are designed to correlate with the structural positioning of the original PDF document, it may be possible to generate a more accurate layout than with the Standard conversion selection option.

Convert to Word- Text

As the name suggests, the Convert to Word -Text conversion option will only convert the text portions of selected items. The text will appear as a standard paragraph without special formatting or text boxes in a new Word document.

Able2Extract PDF to Word Text

This conversion is most useful when working with textual information takes priority over preserving the look and feel of your content in Word. You can easily avoid transferring over images or graphics that aren’t needed. As you can imagine, this can save you a lot of time spent on cutting or deleting them post-conversion.

Specifying Your MS Word Output

In addition to customizing your conversion results, you can also change the PDF to Word output format with a few clicks. You can do this by accessing Able2Extract’s conversion settings by going into the View menu and selecting Options… :

Able2Extract PDF to Word Output Format Options

The Word conversion output offers 3 different output formats when converting a PDF to Word. You can select any of the 3 options:

Default: Using this setting on the Windows platform will result in the software automatically detecting which version of Word is installed on the machine and then saving the Word output into the applicable format – .docx or .doc.

RTF: Choosing this setting means that all conversion that are made from PDF to Word will be saved in the rich text format (.rtf) extension.

Word 2007: Using this setting means that all documents converted into Word will be saved as .docx regardless of which version of Word is installed.

Implementing just a few of these options and settings can help save you some major editing time. Though a Standard conversion is probably sufficient for general purposes, it’s always good to try and get the most out of your PDF to Word conversions wherever possible. With the growing complexity of Word documents, you can’t afford not to!

How To Convert Your Facebook Data To PDF With Sonic PDF Creator 3.0

Facebook is the number one site where you probably spend most of your time online. Undoubtedly, the comments, messages, photos, and videos you post up end up accumulating into one big online scrapbook of your best and most memorable moments in life. It isn’t any wonder then that you would want to preserve that content offline and onto your computer?

While the videos and photos you have posted up might already be on your computer, there are some related bits, like the notes, comments, Wall posts or Facebook messages, which aren’t.

In fact, one of our PDF Creator Facebook app users was wondering if there was a way in which she could download and get all of her Facebook messages into PDF format.

If you want to download your Facebook data into a PDF file, here’s a detailed and slightly altered step-by-step version of the solution we put together and which you can try out for yourself.

1. Log into your Facebook Account

2. Go to Account Settings

3. Under General settings, click on the “Download a copy” of your Facebook data link below your personal information settings.

You’ll then get an overview of what information will be archived and which won’t.

4. Click on the Start My Archive button and confirm your download. This process may take a while depending on how much data you have. Facebook will send you a link to download your archive file via email.

As Facebook notes, all the data contained on your Facebook profile will be downloaded into one single archive. However, you will get the chance to choose which folder and data you can convert later on.

5. Check your email for the link and click on it to reconfirm your password. Download and save the zipped file to your computer.

6. Extract all files from the zipped folder into a folder or location you can easily access. It contains the individual files of your data– photos, videos, and web-based content.

To access your messages, go to HTML> Messages file.

Double click to open the Messages file in your browser to make sure all the content you want is there.

To convert this data into the PDF format, you can use Sonic PDF Creator 3.0 to convert HTML to PDF.

7. Once installed or if you have the program already, open Sonic PDF Creator and click on the Create PDF From File icon on the command toolbar.

8. Click on the Browse button. Select and upload your Messages HTML file.

9. Click the Create PDF button. This should start the conversion process.

Once your Facebook data conversion is done, you can then add whatever PDF features you want to the file. Add a password, headers, footers, watermarks or bookmarks. When you’ve added all you want, simply save your PDF file in a location of your choice.

This process can work for any of the HTML data files you have in your archive. It’s an easy way to keep or reuse your Facebook content in a secure manner while customizing the file to your needs. Give it a try.

If you have another way of saving and preserving your Facebook data, let us know in the comments below!

Investintech Blogger On Ice

As you may know from her bio, our blogger loves to figure skate. Reena grew up following the sport and its skaters, but never really tried it out for herself until she started as an adult skater while attending university. After the first lesson, she was hooked.

Figure Scates

Currently, she takes recreational lessons with a figure skating coach and is learning how to skate in both freeskate (singles) and ice dance.

Despite the nerves, she just passed her Junior Bronze ice dance test, the Swing Dance (fourth test in the discipline). It focuses on backwards and forwards skating, edges, and changes in direction. Take a look (she’s the one who starts off skating backwards):