By Rieva Lesonsky
Today’s workforce is always on, always connected and needs to be just as productive outside the office as they are inside. Working in the cloud means you’re no longer chained to your desk beholden to a single device. Dell offers a triple threat of devices that take advantage of the flexibility built into Windows 8 enabling business owners and their employees to do just that. Here are a few ways you can take advantage of this synergy and seamlessly jump from one device to another, or have multiple users sharing a single device.
First, let’s start with a stationary PC, Dell’s OptiPlex 9010 All-in-One touch. This device can thrive in a community area, available to numerous staffers. After setting up an Administrative User, a new simple walk-through interface makes it easy to add Guest Users with restricted access. If more robust capabilities are needed, employees with Microsoft accounts can log in to any Dell machine running Windows 8 and have all their settings waiting for them, including apps from the Windows Store, browser settings, language settings and more.
There are a few items to note in order for this to work. Only users with admin privileges will be able to actually install applications on the desktop. Also, the syncing preferences, which can be found in the PC Settings, must be turned on and then a series of options allows individual users to adjust the items they wish to sync and the ones they don’t. So if users want their applications to sync, but don’t care if their themes or browser favorites are accessible—those items can be individually turned off or on. Finally, when users log on, they’ll need to make the computer a “trusted PC,” which can be done by clicking the option when it appears.
Once your (or your staff’s) settings are in order it’s easy to quickly jump from the OptiPlex 9010 to Dell’s XPS 12 Convertible Touch Ultrabook. This laptop/tablet hybrid provides the best of both worlds by taking advantage of the Windows 8 touch interface and Dell’s elegant flip-hinge design. What’s particularly nice about this computer is that you get the workhorse power of a laptop in a flexible device that transforms into a tablet, making it ideal for road warrior entrepreneurs and employees. This makes it a great machine when running Office 2013, for example, which seamlessly syncs to the cloud through the built-in SkyDrive in Windows 8. The Ultrabook comes in four versions for those who need more storage or more power.
At the end of the work day when you or your employees arrive home and want to relax, yet still stay connected, the simple and sleek Dell XPS 10 tablet is up to the task. Even if you consider the tablet a more personal device that you don’t want synced with your work hardware, you still need access when duty calls. No problem. Since the work computers are pushing everything into the cloud, you can log in to Skydrive.com and grab just the document or presentation you need before finally shutting down for the day.
This is a paid post in conjunction with IDG and Dell.
