The New Year is only days away, and the entire team at Spud Software is taking a plunge into 2016, literally. We are taking part in the Annual Spud Software Polar Bear Fitness Challenge.

As part of Polar Bear Fitness Challenge, each of our staff members will decide on a personal fitness goal. Perhaps a staff member wants to lose X amount of weight, quit smoking, run X miles or something else. No matter the goal, the staff member decides and tracks their progress.

Each member of our staff has selected their goal and announced it on Monday, December 28, so there is no turning back at this point!

As part of the Polar Bear Fitness Challenge, those who don’t reach their goal will have to face the repercussion of falling short on Feb 19th. Those staff members who did not meet their goal will participate in a polar bear plunge by jumping into an ice cold lake and go under water!
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We then will be following up the cold plunge with a great party including good food, hot drinks and great people.
So our goals are set and we are already underway on hitting our New Year’s resolutions. Hopefully the icy waters aren’t awaiting too many of us!

The first major public cloud platform appeared in 2006. Since then, public cloud adoption has been on the rise, and is expected to increase as we head into 2016. In fact, public cloud services are expected to exceed $127 billion by 2018, an increase from $56 billion in 2014. So where exactly are public cloud services headed?

We believe cloud adoption is going to enter into its second phase. Just as any program evolves, it eventually moves out of its infant stage where public cloud adoption currently exists. However, as the second phase hits it will bring great benefits to companies who invest in cloud adoption.

So What Will Be The Benefits?

This new phase will address two major concerns that should drive public cloud adoption in the right direction.

The first is security. Any company that uses public cloud services knows critical data is being stored in a public area. This terrifies just about anyone. We foresee vastly improved security for public cloud services. Public cloud is just beginning to offer a solution for extra-large data instances. We also expect improved solutions with a great emphasis on high-risk data such as financial or accounting data.

The second major improvement we will see is in the analytics, which is a main driving factor for public cloud service customers. Businesses want to know how to better engage with their customers and how and where to protect their data. The expansion of analytics with public cloud services will address this need. Look for real-time insights and customer-focused insights to be introduced to public cloud services in 2016.
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It’s easy to see why public cloud adoption is on the rise and why it should continue to be widely adopted amongst businesses moving forward. Even the most skeptical IT pros are beginning the see the benefit of cloud services.

As we’ve stated before, our operation’s success relies on the wonderful employees we have here at Spud Software.

For this week’s featured employee, we are focusing on Lyle Knopf, a Director of Operations here at Spud. So let’s get to know Lyle!
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Let’s start with his career here at Spud. Lyle attended Mott Community College for Network Administration. While working on his degree, Lyle began working at Spud in technical support. He quickly found a passion through Spud on how the company could help other businesses through software development.

Since first starting with Spud, Lyle has worked his way up the ladder, and is now the Director of Operations, which puts him in charge of the operations side of the business. Now at 9 and a half years with Spud, Lyle enjoys many aspects of his job, including client interaction, designing projects, working directly with the development staff, and even being part of the late night code deployments, despite pulling the occasional all-nighter.

His most memorable moment was the completion of Spud’s new facility, where he feels he can simply be comfortable while working. He also enjoys some occasional down time to enjoy the pool table and ping pong table.

So besides work, what else does Lyle enjoy?

Well, Lyle is a busy man. When he’s not spending time with his fiance, Lia, 2 kids — his daughter Aubri and son Liam — and 3 dogs, he’s enjoyed working as a firefighter for the Grand Blanc Fire Dept. for the past 10 years.
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When he does find time, he enjoys camping, grilling or smoking food and boating on his favorite lake, Higgins Lake. When he’s relaxing, he enjoys watching The Big Bang Theory, Ray Donovan or the Matrix, and also listens to a variety of music, including rock, country and rap.

We get it! You see inefficiencies all over your business processes. People are having to touch and re-enter the same information many times throughout a business process. But you continue to do it because it's the way it's always been done.

It doesn't have to be that way. We can help you automate business processes to make software work harder for you so you can work smarter.

We've worked with many clients to help streamline their business to help them achieve higher profit margins than ever before.

Here are just a few samples of where we can help:

• Streamline getting order data from sales to production
• Track progress of a job through the production process
• Stop hand entry of data in accounting
• And many more

Save Time, Money & Reduce Errors
Not only does this help save time and money, it also helps prevent errors. Each time data is entered into a computer, the possibility of human error is present. The more times it is entered, the more chances there are for an error to occur.
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Does This Sound Like You?
If so, then we'd love to chat. We offer free consulting sessions to talk about your needs and how we can help. We'll demonstrate how you can save resources and get more profit out of each job. Give us a call at 810.695.0001 or shoot us an email to find a time that works for you.

Improve Business Efficiency With Better Data InputWhen it comes to running a business, speed is essential, especially when it comes to data entry. That’s where the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) comes in handy.
This Thursday we will be holding a meetup showing you how you can use the latest technologies to improve speed and decrease costs of managing your business workflow using everything from handwriting input with a stylus to voice recognition software.

Are you constantly typing away having to fill excel spreadsheets with endless amounts of data? Instead you could be using handwriting recognition to make data entry easier and faster.

You can also integrate voice recognition. Let’s take for example if you own a retail store and you want to find if a product is in stock. Instead of having to tap, swipe or type to find that product, you can instead simply speak into the program to find a quick answer.

Join Us For This Free Event

We'll show you how you can use this technology, often times within your current environment, which will ultimately lead to better productivity.

Join us Thursday, Dec. 3rd for an interactive discussion lead by Jeremy Smith, senior programmer at Spud Software, on how these technologies can be used in your setup. Food and beverages will be provided, and there will also be some excellent giveaways for attendees!
This is a free event but please RSVP Here.

Can't Make It?If you can't make it on Thursday, let's find a time to talk about your business and current challenges. Give us a call at 810.695.0001 or shoot us an email to find a time that works good.