According to Microsoft, 750 million people use its Excel program worldwide, and Satya Nadella has referred to the spreadsheet software as the company’s most important consumer product. Excel has become a business staple since its launch in 1985 and is currently on its 29^th iteration. The program’s flexibility, functionality, and robust user community have made it an office essential, and not just for Finance. Marketing, Product Management, Research, HR, even IT teams use Excel to manipulate data and produce reports.

What makes Excel so popular is its breadth and depth of functionality. From simple sums and equations to pivot tables and complex analysis, there are endless ways to use this powerhouse program. With such a range of applications, it’s no wonder Excel has become a need-to-know skill for employers in every industry.

Don’t Let Your Organization’s Data Get Taken Hostage by Ransomware

Ransomware is big business for cyber criminals. It is estimated ransomware costs will reach $20 billion by 2021 (Cybersecurity Ventures). One of the most noteworthy ransomware attacks came in 2017, when the NotPetya attack cost FedEx $300 million. With companies paying an average of $1.2 million per incident (Kaspersky), network and data security is becoming a top priority in many organizations.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software, usually disguised as a legitimate email attachment. Once a user opens or downloads the file, information on their hard drive is encrypted and inaccessible until they or their organization pay the ‘ransom’ to free the data. Hackers use ransomware to hold governments, financial institutions and other businesses hostage.

VMware vSphere 7 is here. Its release marks the most significant enhancements to vSphere in over a decade, bringing network administrators and developers alike a unified cloud platform that is optimized to build, run, and manage modern applications.

For an overview of the best new features, as well as tips for a successful upgrade or implementation, we turned to New Horizons Virtualization Instructor, Shawn Bolan. Shawn recently hosted a webinar covering the details of the vSphere 7 release.

Figure out which learning style is right for you.
For the most part, online courses will either have instructor-led live classes or pre-recorded lessons. Instructor-led courses are the closest thing you will find to a real classroom experience. Via live video, you will watch your instructor teach a class along with other students attending the course. You can interact with your teacher and peers in real-time, creating a fully engaging experience. These courses work best for people who prefer to learn in a traditional classroom setting.

Pre-recorded lessons offer the greatest flexibility and allow you to learn at your own pace. Simply choose the course you’d like to take, watch the video, and complete any required work. The content of these classes will generally be the same as their instructor-led counterparts, just without the class interaction or ability to ask questions in real-time. This type of course works best for those who need a flexible schedule and can self-motivate to study and attend classes.

With over 44 million daily active users—a 50% increase over just a few months ago—Microsoft Teams is the standard for workplace communication platforms and offers a variety of tools and integrations to make working from home seamless. If you’re just transitioning to working remote, or if you’re new to Teams, we’ve put together an overview of the features that will help you stay on track and productive.

First, some basics. A team is a group of people, files, applications and other resources that make up a project. A channel is a discussion shared with the whole team. A chat is a one-on-one or group conversation not shared within the team group.