Speaker test and tuning mobile apps make it easier for you to get the most out of the space with the least amount of work or gear — all you need is your smart device.

A word of warning: for the most accurate results, you need to be using a professional USB mic to take audio measurements with your mobile device.

Be prepared to tune a spectrum of different speakers, monitors, subwoofers and acoustical environments with your smart device.

Helpful hints for using speaker testing apps

When preparing to tune a speaker system, it is important to have the capacity to not only gauge a variety of frequencies, but keep track of readings and guarantee that your readings are accurate.

Mobile speaker tuners and testers can accomplish a handful of different readings and tasks. Some apps are focused on low end frequencies.

Subwoofer testers are great for reading frequencies from 0hz and 440hz. Other audio tools with RTA or FFT features can read SPL and help you tune your speakers according to reflection and sound dispersion.

Tuning a space means taking into account not only what is heard on stage, but how the audience hears the performance or application as well.

Having a mobile option for reading sound levels that is multi-functional and accurate is important to guaranteeing the most of the space.

When dealing with specifics, such as speech intelligibility, it is key to being prepared to deal with any application of sound with ease.

Click here to view slideshow of best speaker testing apps

Another essential feature that mobile speaker test and tuning apps offer is the ability to save, graph and export readings.

While this does not directly enhance or detract from the apps ability to read sound levels, being able to return to previous readings or send readings elsewhere is paramount for consistency within a specific space over a long period of time.

You want the space to sound good all the time, not just once, and having reference to previous levels lets you confidently say that your space sounds great.

This collection of apps showcases a group of speaker testing and tuning apps for your mobile device.

Each app is useful in specific situations — while every app might not be for you, there are guaranteed to be a few that you will find valuable according to your task. Finding the right audio app is completely up to your specific situation.

Additional resources for IT folks testing audio equipment:

• Tips for Buying Audio Technology
• RFP Template: Audio
• Webinar: How to Achieve the Right Audio Quality in Meeting Spaces
• These Are the Audio Visual Acronyms Tech Managers Should Commit to Memory

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Productivity has become a major concern for business owners in an age where the mobile, work-from-home workforce is larger than ever before.

How can business owners ensure their daily operations are where they should be?

Chad Halvorson and his team of designers at thisCLICKS, a St. Paul, Minn. based app development company, saw a need to solve this scheduling riddle. So, they created an app called WhenIWork.

The intent of WhenIWork was to help businesses work smarter. By using a blend of Web, mobile, text messaging and social media, Halvorson’s app has helped companies in a wide range of industries — restaurants, retail, health care, and medical device manufacturing — become more efficient, but his team won’t stop there.

Tech Decisions: You obviously understand the importance of mobile in the business world. How has mobile technology made you a more valuable part of your own company?

Chad Halvorson: Mobile is making everyone more valuable and flexible, not just me. Ubiquitous access to software and apps means anyone in any organization can be more productive, accessible and responsive. We’re no longer at the mercy of the telephone or 9 to 5 work day. In my book, this is a major stress reducer and allows me to manage my attention much more effectively, without interruption.

TD: You’re in the business of selling mobile to companies that might not have played in that realm before. Are you seeing push back from companies who might not understand the value of mobile?

CH: We see some. Our focus is on companies that are actively pursuing mobile or cloud-based strategy with employee scheduling. We’re not out to convince people that mobile is the future; we’re out to convince those that already believe in mobile that they should work with us.

Related: Should I Stay or Should I Go? A Cloud Migration Approach

TD: Obviously, mobile is woven into the fabric of your business. What’s the one thing that makes an app work well for someone who needs mobile access?

CH: I find the more ubiquitous an app, the more likely I’ll use it. If I can use an app on my desktop, laptop, tablet and phone, I’m much more likely to use it for daily use.

We’ve been conglomerating a list of business apps we think technology decision makers should consider — either for their own use, or to recommend to higher-level coworkers.

Click here to see our recommended list of business apps that will help with productivity & scheduling

The post 5 Business Apps That Help with Scheduling, Productivity, and More appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Related:  A Company at Risk: Are Your Business Leaders Holding Back Your Company’s Digital Transformation? 

Getting a Handle on Industry Trends

This new market research initiative will aid Trusted Advisors and their business customers in understanding industry trends around emerging new technologies in cloud, colocation, connectivity, SD-WAN, security, UCaaS and more. Avant will analyze real-world insights from thousands of annual IT business purchasing decisions and conduct primary research to deliver regular reports on the state of disruption in the industry in the form of studies, papers, blogs, podcasts and briefings.

Advice and Recommendations Offered

“Avant Analytics is a new dimension to Avant’s IT decision-making platform,” says Ian Kieninger, CEO, Avant. “In keeping with our mission to facilitate digital transformation, this initiative will be an indispensable resource to Trusted Advisors who need to make critical recommendations and decisions on behalf of their customers, who must stay current to effectively navigate today’s technology transitions or risk being left behind.”

Avant powers an extensive network of channel professionals, known as Trusted Advisors, who help today’s CIOs, CISOs and CTOs navigate the rapid pace of technological change. These experts use Avant’s industry-leading tools and partnerships to introduce their customers to the most applicable enterprise technology applications that will enable them to achieve their goals.

Partners will have an opportunity to team up with in-house analysts and propel their businesses using Avant’s marketing and communications expertise. Meanwhile, enterprise customers can look to these owned resources as a single source of truth on how to fully leverage technology to the benefit of their companies.

The post Avant Provides Critical Research to Enterprises for Digital Transformation Initiatives appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Finding Parts Fast; Ordering Simplified

New SyncFab users will be able to build from an extensive parts library where all previously ordered parts are available for fast and easy re-ordering.  With its solution, SyncFab utilizes blockchain smart contracts and data-driven smart manufacturing to optimize the external supply chain available to OEM buyers in the United States and beyond.

Related: IBM 5 in 5 Campaign Will Bring Blockchain and AI to Food Industry

Blockchain Improves Efficiency

“The goals of our partnership are to better understand the availability and capabilities of suppliers, integrate them with our blockchain solution, improve security and capacity utilization, and a more seamless experience with OEM purchasing departments who need to plan for contingencies in their supply chain,” says Jeremy Goodwin, founding CEO of SyncFab.

A Level Playing Field for Small Businesses

SyncFab’s system allows for the commercial procurement of manufactured parts backed by the security, speed and immutability of records blockchain offers. Orders are secure, instant, and streamlined.

Buyers reward manufacturers for quotes and manufacturers reward buyers for reorders. Small, local manufacturers are given a level playing field against large firms as no quotes get special treatment within the network. In addition, SyncFab’s platform digitally captures partner information to offer time-sensitive status updates and data related to the production process and supply chain planning.

“We are really excited about our new partnership with SyncFab.  Access to SyncFab’s advanced manufacturing blockchain platform is a great advantage for our members.  With an extensive parts library and fast, easy and secure re-ordering, blockchain technology can make a huge impact on supply chain management for NTMA members,” remarks Doug DeRose, interim president of NTMA.

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The rollout of voice-enabled products will start with Ricoh’s IM Series of intelligent multifunction printers (MFPs). A pilot program of these MFPs is currently underway at an Ivy League university.

University decision makers wanted to offer printers that can be accessed and utilized easily by everyone at the campus community—including people with visual disabilities. According to the American Community Survey, just 30.5 percent of Americans with a visual disability had full-time, full-year employment in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available. At a time when Americans with disabilities are nearly three times as likely as those without a disability to never go online, making connectivity and collaboration accessible and intuitive is vital to bringing people of all abilities into the digital workplace.

“Ricoh firmly believes in making education accessible for all, regardless of disability. When this university approached us with the idea of voice controls for visually impaired users, we were excited to play a role in the important work of helping open the door for anyone with more diverse abilities,” says Steven Burger, head of engineering and vice president, Portfolio Management, Ricoh USA, Inc. “This technology has the potential to change the way millions of people collaborate and learn – and it has a myriad of office applications, as well. With the introduction of voice enablement, we’re expanding the ways our customers interact with their work. That means streamlining and ease of use, so people with different workstyles operating in the same environment can all get the most out of their Ricoh technology. In a results-driven world full of fast-turn demands, voice controls’ flexibility and efficiency are immense value-adds.”

Ricoh’s work with AWS is another example of the Digital Workplace Intelligence approach Ricoh introduced earlier this year, which is focused on delivering continual improvements and helping to ensure capabilities evolve in parallel with customer requirements. Future innovation is anticipated for other workplace services offerings, including Ricoh’s interactive flat panel displays (IFPDs) and projectors.

The post Control Your Office Printer with Alexa Voice Commands appeared first on My TechDecisions.

ADA Compliant and Adjustable

Designed to overcome the challenges of integrating technology in the classroom or lecture hall while creating an intuitive and comfortable space for users, Middle Atlantic’s L7 Series Lectern is a stylish, innovative furniture solution. It merges modern design with motorized height adjustments in compliance with ADA requirements to enable users of all heights to engage effectively with the technology in the space.

Design Based on Extensive Research and Interviews

“In our approach to engineering the L7, we conducted extensive research and over 200 interviews with facility managers, professors, and integrators to learn what they really needed to feel supported and address design aesthetics and technology requirements,” says Paul Dolynchuk, director of product management at Middle Atlantic. “The L7 Series lectern design reflects that teamwork, innovation, and continuous improvement are highly regarded in the industry.”

Smooth Integration into Classrooms

Guaranteeing smooth integration of any classroom components, the L7 Series Lectern provides a welded steel frame with modular rackmount and storage options; additional small device storage available below the work surface on patented, removable Lever Lock mounting; integrated power, cable, and thermal management for ultimate system reliability; and popular AVIP plates for higher education applications. Its dramatic curves highlight its generous workspace. In addition, its mixed materials of brushed aluminum and wood-grain finishes create a lectern that looks appealing in both standing and seated positions. The L7 also offers instructors the space needed to accommodate personal devices, a wireless charging pad to keep Qi cellular devices charged during class, ample USB and AC outlets, and storage for markers and microphones.

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To help enterprises more efficiently gather, analyze and utilize data, Informatica, an enterprise cloud data management leader, has teamed up with Microsoft, Tableau, and Databricks to create a comprehensive enterprise-scale intelligent data catalog. The Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog (EDC) offers AI-driven data discovery across multi-cloud and hybrid environments, providing broad metadata connectivity to support organizations in driving their data-driven digital transformations.

“Enabling a culture of analytics requires a balance of self-service with governance so that everyone can trust and understand the data available for analysis,” comments Francois Ajenstat, chief product officer at Tableau. “Informatica’s new integration with Tableau brings the power of the Enterprise Data Catalog to end users in the flow of analysis. This will help people quickly discover relevant, curated data and empower them to uncover valuable insights and make data-driven decisions.”

By enabling easy discovery and understanding of data across the enterprise, the Informatica EDC allows enterprises to fully leverage their data for greater business insights and value. In addition, expanded integrations with Tableau, and new EDC metadata scanners for Delta Lake, the open source project from Databricks, and Microsoft Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, further enable Informatica EDC customers to build a strategic approach to analytics modernization.

Benefits of data catalog

• Broad and deep metadata connectivity across the full spectrum of data sources and applications — including on-premises data warehouses, data lakes, cloud data stores, ETL tools, business intelligence tools, SaaS, and other enterprise applications.
• Broad and deep lineage and impact analysis to understand the provenance of critical data in a dynamic data landscape and assess the impact of making changes.
• AI-enabled automation speeds up intelligent data curation through automated domain discovery, data similarity, and business term association.
• Data collaboration and social curation enables crowdsourced data curation, including from certifications, ratings and reviews, and Q&A forums to bring otherwise siloed data knowledge to the forefront.
• Support for varied use cases, ranging from self-service analytics to data governance, cloud modernization, and master data management.
• Enterprise-scale data discovery and cataloging across millions of datasets, whether located on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid combination of data sources.

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With the recent addition of a 10,000-square-foot Eastern regional facility in Scranton, Penn., Canon Business Process Services continues to expand the capabilities and reach of its Business Processing Centers. The facilities are designed to help clients with their digital transformation initiatives.

Together with Canon’s Western U.S. and Philippines-based operations, the Pennsylvania location extends the company’s national and global capabilities to better support client business objectives.

“Organizations increasingly are launching digital transformation projects because these initiatives enable them to better concentrate on their core business while containing costs and improving operational efficiency,” notes Joe Marciano, president and CEO, Canon Business Process Services. “With our extended business processing capabilities, Canon can help clients meet these important goals.”

Canon’s processing centers support business functions ranging from invoice and claims processing to document imaging and electronic discovery services for corporations and law firms. Highlights include: workflow and forms design; digitization of hard-copy documents; search-enabled images; historical or vital records preservation; indexing/coding and transactional processing.

Another feature of Canon’s Business Process Centers is security. The facilities underscore Canon’s commitment to ensuring that client data is reinforced by the highest levels of confidentiality, integrity and ease of access. To support this goal the Business Processing Centers utilize technology and processes—such as dual physical authentication and third-party application penetration testing—to meet relevant industry standards. The processing centers currently have accreditations that include: AICPA SOC 1 and SOC 2; HITRUST/CSF certified; PCI compliant; HIPAA compliant and GDPR Ready.

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The report, The Future of Work is Now: How Shifting Dynamics, Technological Innovation, and Worker Preferences Are Disrupting the Workplace of Today, evaluates the demographic, technological, and behavioral factors that are changing the workplace of today and setting the course for the Future of Work.

In the past decade, the generational makeup of the workforce underwent a dramatic evolution that will continue to reshape foundational aspects of American work. Since 2009, a new generation has joined the workforce (Generation Z), Millennials took over as the largest generation in the workforce, and Baby Boomers began to exit the workforce as they reached retirement age.

As a result of these generational shifts, employers have made changes such as:

• Switching to a more casual dress code (24 percent)
• Offering more flexible scheduling options (20 percent)
• Upgrading to more flexible/collaborative/open concept workspaces (15 percent)
• Allowing employees to work remotely (14 percent)

The mobile-centric preferences of Millennial and Generation Z workers have also influenced the tools their employers use to share information. Five years ago, only 14 percent of employees used both mobile devices and desktop computers to manage HR tasks. Today, that number is up to 43 percent.

The report is based on payroll and HR data of a subset of Paychex small business clients with one to 49 employees and survey responses from more than 500 U.S. workers.

The report breaks down the impact of an increasingly multi-generational workforce, advancements in technology, the evolving preferences of today’s workers, and highlights the following:

Report Highlights

• Today, the number of employees using a desktop computer exclusively to manage HR tasks has dropped to 51 percent (from 74 percent five years ago), and the number of employees using both desktop and mobile solutions has jumped to 43 percent (from 14 percent).
• Nearly one-third of employees (31 percent) say that an aspect of their job that was once done manually is now done through AI/machine automation. And the trend is expected to continue: 33 percent of Generation Z, 32 percent of Millennials, 29 percent of Generation X, and 20 percent of Baby Boomers think that manual aspects of their current job will be done though AI or machine automation in the next five years.
• When asked what their ideal work schedule looks like, 73 percent of employees would prefer some form of flexible scheduling (a compressed work week, unique hours based on personal circumstance, or total flexibility as long as job responsibilities are met). However, only 51 percent of employees currently have a flexible schedule option while 49 percent have a set schedule.
• Employees expressed a similar desire for more choices when asked about where they prefer to work: 31 percent of employees select the more traditional option of working at their companies’ office each day, while 58 percent would prefer to work from home some or all of the time.

The full report can be downloaded at paychex.com/future-work.

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“We listened to our business banking customers talk about their businesses, their goals and their challenges,” says Andy Harmening, Huntington’s senior executive vice president and director of Consumer and Business Banking. “Based on their insights, we created new deposit products to make banking easier for them and by giving them the flexibility to choose the bonus services that are right for their businesses. And our new fraud protection gives them the peace of mind they’re looking for to protect and grow what they’ve built.”

Related: Conquering Security Risks in the Cloud

Here are a few services that business owners told Huntington would make their lives easier:

• Fraud Protection– The increased ability to protect accounts from check fraud automatically.
• Unlimited Transactions– No limit on or need to count transactions, which saves money and adds value.
• Simplicity– Allow business customers to have all their banking services in one place, with technology giving them a complete view of their money.
• Proactive Insights– To help business customers make more informed decisions.

The innovative, deposit product suite contains two new checking accounts that include unlimited transactions. These products offer a choice of five bonus services that save time or money, such as fraud protection, remote check scanning, a discount on Paychex payroll services, or no fees on other account services. Based on their needs, business customers may choose a product with either one or two bonus services.

“The new business banking product suite is just the beginning of Huntington’s business strategy this year,” adds Harmening. “We will continue to make banking easier and add value for small business owners and be a great partner as they take their businesses to the next level.”

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