If you are like me, you depend on your PC Outlook for email, contact list and calendar.  It’s the only tool that does a decent job of meeting invites, colored categories and name lookups.  I’m not a big fan of online calendars because they are too slow!  When I need to schedule something, or make a task from an email, I just drag and drop it in Outlook and it creates almost by itself.  I’m not a fan of Office 365 because it slows down the load time of my Outlook.  My work day is for business, not for waiting for a slow loading app, or web site to feeds nibbles to my PC.

I love my Galaxy Note II phone.  It updated this spring to Android 4.4, and so I think it has almost all the features of a Galaxy Note III.  The larger screen size is great because I use it for my Kindle, and for browsing news and technology articles on the web.

CompanionLink provides nine different ways to move data from Standalone Outlook to your Android Phone.  Here is a rundown with some of the advantages and disadvantages.  CompanionLink has created an Outlook Style App for Android called DejaOffice.  This App is the only one on the market that supports Colored Categories just like Outlook.  This App is the only one that supports Tasks linked to your Outlook Contacts list.  Five of our seven system use DejaOffice as a destination, to make your Android phone more powerful.

1. USB Sync from Outlook to DejaOffice App on Android:  If you liked Palm Hotsync, USB Sync is the way to go.  Download DejaOffice on your device, and CompanionLink on your PC.  Set up a USB link.  Both programs have setup wizards to help you out.  The sync will run whenever you connect your phone to your PC.  This is a fully secure sync.  There is no stored data on the web.  As such it is fully HIPAA compliant.  With DejaOffice you will see your Outlook Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes and Journal all in one handy Android App!
2. Bluetooth Sync from Outlook to DejaOffice App on Android:  Just like Palm, CompanionLink offers the option to Bluetooth sync from Android to your PC.  Your PC will need a Bluetooth connection.  Most laptops have them built-in.  For desktops you can buy a USB dongle for just a few dollars.
3. WiFi Sync from Outlook to DejaOffice App on Android:  Wi-Fi uses your local Wi-Fi router to mediate a sync connection to your Android phone.  This is handy if you don’t like plugging your phone in all day, and don’t have a Bluetooth connection.  All you need here is a local Wi-Fi router that both your PC and your Phone are connected to.  CompanionLink’s Wi-Fi sync is fully encrypted, so even though the sync goes through an unsecured router, it is protected using a password and AES256 level encryption (very strong).  Most people consider this to be HIPAA compliant, but check with your compliance team to be sure.
4. DejaCloud Sync from Outlook to DejaOffice App on Android:  CompanionLink offers a very fast cloud sync system called DejaCloud.  There is an online app called DejaOffice CRM Live.  With this system, your PC and your phone both synchronizes to the online database.  With this system, you can be in-sync even when you are traveling away from your office.  Everything is live, so if you enter a note, and the drop your phone into Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer lagoon,  the note will be safely stored on your Outlook PC.  DejaCloud supports simultaneous sync to multiple phones and PCs, and is the perfect solution if you use a phone and tablet, or a PC and Mac.
5. CompanionLink Secure Hosted Wireless to DejaOffice App on Android:  CompanionLink offers a HIPAA compliant secure system.  This system does not store your data online.  Think of it like an email system, when the email is received, it is no longer on the server.  In this case, when your phone gets the contact and calendar data, the server is wiped clean and empty.  Because the server is clean, each device needs a separate account.  So this is a point-to-point wireless system.
6. CompanionLink to Google, with Google Sync to your Android Phone:  If you don’t need categories or tasks to sync, then you can use Google Sync for Contacts and Calendar.  This is a lightweight solution for people who find the Android Contacts and Android Calendar sufficient for their Outlook needs.  Just set up CompanionLink to go to Google, and use Google’s onboard synchronization for the rest.  The best advantage here is that if you find you need your Categories or your Tasks, you can switch to one of the other methods for Free!
7. Office 365 Cloud to DejaOffice App on your Android Phone via USB, WI-Fi, DejaCloud or Google:  If you don’t use Outlook on the PC, but only use Office 365 Cloud (formerly called Hotmail), you still have a number of options to synchronize.  The advantage here is that DejaOffice acts just like Outlook on your Android phones.  You have access to your Contacts, Calendar and Tasks, and you can easily create a Task from a Calendar event or Contact just as you would in Outlook.
8. Use DejaOffice Live to connect from Office 365 to DejaOffice App on Android:  You can set up DejaCloud Sync for your device (item 4 above) but connect it directly to your Office 365 Cloud data.  This sync run without any software on your PC.  So you can turn your PC off, make a change in Office 365, and see it on your phone within seconds.  DejaCloud Connectors work for other Cloud Apps like SalesForce and InfusionSoft.
9. Use DejaOffice Live to connect from Office 365 to Google:  A quick and easy Cloud-to-Cloud connector automates sync from Office 365 to your Google Android account.  Setup is entirely online, so you don’t even need to run CompanionLink on your PC.  It’s completely automatic, so you never have to think about hitting a button or connecting a cable.

CompanionLink works with any version of Outlook, including Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2007.  For all of these solutions, you can get a two week free trial from CompanionLink to try it out.  If you choose to purchase the service it costs just $14.95 per quarter for a subscription, or $49.95 for a one-time  purchase.  Type in the Affinity code BLOG to get $10 off the one-time purchase, just for reading to the end of this blog.  Once you purchase, you can install CompanionLink on up to three of  your computers, and call our live US based telephone technical support.  CompanionLink also offers Premium Support (dedicated phone line and expert tech, for people with sophisticated synchronizing needs) and a RunStart service where a technician logs onto your computer the set up what you need.

Here is a roundup of our current projects and how they relate to upcoming products:

For Galaxy S5 – we are excited to see the announcement of the next Galaxy series phone.  I carry one, and I hope you do too.  The S5 has a slightly larger screen that is a lot higher resolution, latest KitKat Android, fingerprint scanner, better battery.  Here’s Samsung’s official page.

Look for CompanionLink 6.0 to fully support Office 365 and Outlook 2013 sync to Galaxy S5 and all related Samsung phones; Active, Zoom, Mini, Mega, Light.

Before April, DejaOffice will support the fingerprint unlock, particularly for our encrypted mode which uses high level encryption to lock your contact and calendar data.

Also before April DejaOffice will be getting some new usability features; a side-menu for quicker app switching, and better integration with KitKat notifications.  Some of these require KitKat or higher OS version.  Some features will also be available for lower versions.  The new release will get a new version number DejaOffice 3.0.

We are about to release DejaVoice.  This is a voice dictation system that is intended for voice command, and voice readback.  DejaVoice is a standalone system.  You can use it like a dictation machine where you speak what you would like to write.  DejaVoice is suited to voice editing, where it automatically reads back content, and you can modify it on the fly.  Also coming in March is DejaVoice Translate, where you speak in one language, and it reads back in another.  This is to assist in communication while traveling.  Finally, DejaVoice is also suited for communication for hearing impaired and speaking impaired.  Using the dictation and readback systems separately gives touch based controls to create verbal input and output to assist people to function more smoothly.

With DejaVoice launched as a standalone product, look for it to be integrated into DejaOffice.  This is the promise (and failure) of Siri to be a verbal IO system for a CRM product.  Look for a command engine to handle “what are my tasks today?” and also the ability to add, change, delete records, to sent notices to attendees, to quickly map the next appointment and launch directions.

Voice commands and CRM together speak a lot to Google Glass, Ford Sync, and other automobile and wearable systems.  The integration of your own contact list and schedules make it natural to want to send out messages, reorganize tasks, dictate letters, and make project notes all while sitting in traffic with both your hands on the steering wheel.  This is our main goal for 2014 is to integrate all these systems with our realtime DejaCloud Sync which supports PC and Cloud destinations like Salesforce, Outlook, Lotus Notes, Act! and Goldmine.

Happy New Year all!  I’m not the only one that is happy to put 2013 behind us.  Another year of budget sequesters, government gridlock and grinding recession behind us.

My Predictions for 2014.

1. 2014 will be better!  People will feel more secure about work, the economy and technology in our lives.  The wonder of camera resolution, ease of UI, and ever lower network costs will amaze and confound us.   “Wearable” will be the “Watch-word” for 2014, even though no one knows what it means, or how it will appear. Don’t worry, no one really cares, but phones will get cheaper and better, and people ever more glued to the device in their hand.

2. CES 2014 will be useless.  No one will go there but the news reporters, and they will report on virtually nothing.  However, virtually nothing is useful these days, and virtually nobody will watch virtually nothing on their mobile device.

3. Over the year Samsung will release Galaxy S5, with variations; Mini, Active, Note, Light, Heavy, Super, Ultra, Modern, Watch, Catch, Pitch and Visionary.  Covering every size in half inch increments from 3-inches to 110-inches, some people will starve in Verizon stores trying to figure out which one is best.  Someone will write an app to remove crapware from Samsung phones, sell it for $5, and make more money than Angry Birds.

4. In March, Microsoft will purchase Nokia’s Devices and Services business (roughly half of Nokia) with the Lumia line of phones becoming Microsoft products.  Microsoft will promptly announce Windows Phone 9 for Spring, and then delay release for 2 years.  In the mean time Microsoft will include a $25 Windows 8 RT Tablet (remember they still have 2 million unsold tablets) with every Lumia phone they sell.  Microsoft will end the year declaring lack of ripple water effects the Achilles heel of their device line

5. In April, Nokia – minus it’s products and services division – will release the first Nokia Android phone.  By August the new Nokia will be double market share from prior to the Microsoft sale.

6. In May, Google Glass will be released to consumers.  At $595 they will require you have a current Smartphone ($500 plus $80 per month for 2 years).  So this means every Glass user will have a $3000 investment for a device that goes from purchase to drawer in a record 48 hours.  Meanwhile, Bluetooth headsets, microphones and accessories will drop by half in price, becoming 4 times more effective.  Glass is not useless.  Just in it’s first year.  Remember the Google G1 Android?

7. In June HTC will introduce a new phone, called the HTC One.  (Nowithstanding that their 2013 phone was the HTC One, and their 2012 phone the HTC One X).  A CNet reviewer will accidentally buy a two year old HTC One X on eBay and declare it the best phone of 2014.

8. In October, Apple will release iPhone 6, which will feature a new water ripple effect and come in tropical colors.  On the $700 iPhone 6LX the water ripples will make the case glow.  People will line up for hours to buy the new phone, proclaiming that ripples will change their lives.

9. BlackBerry/Palm comparisons are epic.  Consider Palm Treo compared to BlackBerry Classic, and Palm Pre compared to BlackBerry 10.  BlackBerry has said they will abandon their hardware business to focus on Enterprise Secure Software (sounds like Palm focusing on webOS in the last 9 months of Palm).  After September earnings BlackBerry will sell to Lenovo for $1.8b, with the Chinese Government a silent partner and ultra secure BBM network will be used by the Chinese Army to spy on the NSA.

10. Voice CRM is on the horizon.  Look for App makers to increasingly include voice as part of their applications.  Voice Dial was one of the most powerful features of BlackBerry 7, but BlackBerry has abandon that technology in their new focus.  Look for other vendors to capitalize on business use of voice applications.

There you have it!  Have a happy new year.

CompanionLink has always synchronized Salesforce CRM Contacts and Accounts to mobile devices, Outlook, or any Google or Gmail account.  Accounts show up on the device as a Contact record with the organization/company field mapped to the Account name in Salesforce CRM.

In CompanionLink Professional 5 build 5044 and later, we have expanded field-mapping options when synchronizing Accounts. We introduced a new tab in CompanionLink called Account Field Mapping that allows you to map any/all of your Salesforce CRM Account fields with your choice contact fields on the mobile device.

Motorola’s first major device announcement under new parent Google and a new CEO includes three major devices — DROID RAZR HD, DROID RAZR MAXX HD, and DROID RAZR M.  Their core competency still remains their dedication to Android, 4G LTE (courtesy of Verizon), and some of the longest lasting batteries that ship with Android devices.

All three competencies point squarely on the business audience — people who need fast internet access and batteries that can last the entire day on the road.

CompanionLink augments these business competencies by adding CRM functionality on Motorola’s new products.  With the DejaOffice CRM app for Android, business people can store over 50,000 records, encrypt and lock their entire client database and notes, sort a long list of contacts by company name or last name, or sort by zip code or city.

CompanionLink also synchronizes CRM databases like Sage ACT!, SugarCRM, Zoho, Salesforce, and many others directly to Motorola devices.  This allows businesses to use the CompanionLink ecosystem to keep CRM data updated, encrypted, and easily accessible.

Google+ is still very new, but it’s shaping up to be quite popular among early adopters. Invites are beginning to flow more freely, and more and more users are getting to try out the hyped new network.

That said, many users receive a Google+ invite only to find an empty site because all their contacts are stored in Outlook, not Google. Currently, Google does not provide an import tool for Google+ (though they are working on it). So how can you populate your Google+ network and maximize its potential? It’s simple: use CompanionLink.

CompanionLink allows you to sync contacts from Outlook, Palm Desktop, and other PC software into your Google Contacts. From there, you can simply log into Google+ and connect with (or invite) your contacts. It’s that easy! Before you know it, you’ll be experiencing Google+ as it was designed to be used.