Blog
Heading to the Cloud
Heading to the Cloud
More and more we are seeing companies doing more with less… And they are using technology to do it. Whether it is a downsized our outsourced IT department, a geographically dispersed team of home workers, road warriors or just different offices, more and more teams are looking to a cloud based solution.
Another trend we have been seeing has been the introduction of tablet computers. Of these, IPAD are by far the most popular, but we also see Android based devices. While it is not possible to load ACT on these devices or run ACT for Web, our Citrix based solution will allow full access to all of your data from a tablet. The same environment follows you from work computer to laptop to home computer to tablet.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Setting up an IPAD to use Citrix
Setting up an IPAD to use Citrix
One of the benefits of our Citrix Hosted solution is the ability to go from Laptop to Desktop to IPAD with the same session and without needing to reload any of your programs or sync your data.
Here are the simple steps needed to setup an IPAD or IPAD 2 to utilize our Citrix Cloud. IF you have questions or wish to sign up call us at (866) 710 4228
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| Search Will return the proper application: Citrix Receiver for IPAD; Choose Install |
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| On the Welcome Screen, Choose Connect to my Company’s Virtual Apps and Desktops |  |
| Your Published Applications will come up. Click on the Icon to start the application, Click on the Plus + to add to your favorites |  |
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ACT and QuoteWerks Hosting
ACT and QuoteWerks Hosting
We use Quotewerks internally and have been greatly impressed with the quality of the product and the excellent support Aspire Technology provides. QuoteWerks pulls ACT! contact information into the quote
When you select the ACT! contact to use in the quote, our innovative DataLink feature can automatically pull other information from ACT! into the quote such as customer terms, customer sales tax rate, customer profile etc. Customer profiles can be used by QuoteWerks to determine the appropriate pricing a particular customer should receive.
We host Quotewerks with our Citrix Hosting platform for an “everything in the cloud experience”
Download the Quotewerks -ACT! Spec Sheet
Benefits of a Citrix Based Solution
Benefits of a Citrix Based Solution
In addition to being able to use the full ACT! Desktop Client in a Cloud based environment, Hosting ACT over Citrix brings us additional benefits such as.
Access from anywhere – All you need is an internet connection
Convenience – Get to your stuff from anywhere
Reduced IT Costs – Many Companies have reduced their IT costs by 30 percent or more
Reliability – Networks and applications are managed by experts
Security – 128-bit encryption and servers stored at secure data centers
Printing - Print to your printer with no further setup. Your default printer is your default printer
Time Zone issues for Remote users: with other solutions, users see the time zone of the server and not their local time zone. This can make it difficult if you are off by an hour for a meeting.
MACS, IPADS and IPhones support
Seamless access to the server through the new Citrix receiver
Universal Smartphone Support – Access from any smartphone including iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Android
Expanded support of devices – USB access supports POS devices, webcams, microphones, scanners, digital cameras, and more
Simplified PC Maintenance. There is no application data on your laptop and on your office server. Your files are backed up daily, and your information is stored in a secure data center.
Why We Chose Citrix
Studies show that Citrix operates three to four times faster than Microsoft Terminal Services. Many factors contribute to Citrix’s greater efficiency. Citrix’s applications work and appear as local applications with an icon on your desktop. Microsoft Terminal Services demand that you login to a remote desktop—amounting to three or four mouse clicks before you are able to access your application. Terminal Services’ performance speed is affected by factors outside of your company’s control, such as Microsoft network latency. A recent study shows that Citrix can use up to 73% less bandwidth on your server than Terminal Services.
Citrix offers additional advantages not available with Microsoft Terminal Services. When faced with slow Internet speeds, such as a dial-up connection, Terminal Services will not work. While Citrix supports many operating systems, such as Windows, MAC, Linux, Java, Unix, IBM OS/2 and DOS Clients, Terminal Services supports only Windows Clients. Citrix supports high-resolution graphics; Terminal Services graphics are typically grainy, with delayed access. Citrix offers simple printing—you’ll only see your own company’s printers, whereas with Terminal Services environments, you’ll see a pool of different printers from various Terminal Services’ clients.
ACT! and the Ipad
ACT! and the Ipad
The Ipad is fast becoming a serious business tool. It’s ease of use and open face format make the IPAD the perfect demonstration device. Whether you are taking a loan application with a client, or just if you need your business information at your fingertips.
Our Hosted Citrix services allows you to view ACT on many devices not otherwise supported by ACT. This includes MAC computers, Linux, and the IPAD. Real time all the time access to your information across your entire team.
Today, we want to go over some of the ways a user can connect to their ACT via IPad.
Log me in or Go to My PC – Each of these tools allow you to contol another computer from your IPAD or other Tablet device. This provides a cost effective and relatively simple to connect to your computer from your tablet. These solutions can be viable for single users and small teams. The most important consideration is that you must have a computer dedicated for you to access back at an office somewhere. If that computer crashes or if someone else needs to use it, your data is not accessible. Also, this becomes a logistical challenge as the size of your teams grow as more and more computers need to be dedicated to this type of access.
Getting to your ACT! while out of the office
ACT! for Web –ACT! for Web (APFW) is easily accessible via the Internet Explorer web browser. Although it lacks some of the marketing and administrative features of the full desktop product, it is easiest to deploy and access and is many times a good solution for sales professionals seeking a shared company database. There is also the benefit of nothing loaded on the client computer and near immediate deployment. This is an online only solution. There is no access to your data if you are not connected to the internet. This is also a more secure solution in that if a computer is lost or stolen your valuable information is not lost. Most add on software requires the ACT desktop product and therefore is not functional via ACT for web.
ACT! Premium Synchronization – Benefits of this solution include offline access to your data and use of the full windows desktop program and most of its features* . Most ACT adds ons work in a synchronization environment. Because ACT must be installed and maintained on each users workstation, this solution can be more costly to maintain. Users must be trained and responsible for keeping up the sync process as it is client initiated. Access to other user’s data is not in real time and is dependent upon all parties performing synch. Finally, this configuration is susceptible to security risks in there may be data loss due to physical loss of the computer and damage to the data not yet synchronized. Generally speaking a greater level of trust and responsibility is required if sync enabled users.
ACT! over Citrix (thin client) – Citrix allows you to log in remotely to our server. From your perspective, the programs show up on your system just like any other program. However, the program and data reside on the server. All that passes to you are screen views and keyboard commands. There are no programs to load on your machine, just a small IE Plug-in. Our Citrix platform works on old machines, slow machines, Windows-based and Mac based machines, including IPADs.
With a Citrix based solution, you use the full Windows desktop ACT product with none of the limitations incurred by the ACT for Web platform and none of the administrative and security risks of the ACT Sync model. ACT! over Citrix is fast and secure and it’s very easy to deploy. ACT integration is fully functional, but only with Citrix based MS Office. It does not integrate with Microsoft Office on your local machine. IF this is a requirement, a combination Citrix-Sync model may be employed.
