June 15, 2013 marks a major milestone for Adobe — it was on this date 20 years ago that PDF and the Acrobat family of products first shipped and changed the world of documents forever. From the engineers and the customer service teams, to our partners and the community experts, we give our thanks to everyone that has been a part of this success story. Our gratitude is particularly dedicated to the millions upon millions of Acrobat, Adobe Reader and Acrobat.com customers who continue to inspire and motivate us to push the boundaries of how this technology can solve real-world document challenges. Here’s to many more of years of continued innovation and leadership. We are excited for you all to be a part of it. Thank you.
Look, it’s time we were honest with each other: we know we’re not your only blog. We know you’ve got plenty of other feeds popping up in your RSS reader of choice (which, by the way, can’t be Google Reader anymore – what are you all using instead?). Today, in the interest of full disclosure, we thought we’d share a few of the online resources we look at when we open up our laptops first thing in the morning. Check out our top 5 sites for techy news, reviews, and events:
ZDNet- This blog is one of the best resources for IT professionals to find information about products, trends, optimization tips and more. ZDNet has editions for 13 different geographic regions, providing you with important news from around the world, as well as local information most relevant to you.
Tech Republic- This website is not just a single blog; the blogging section covers a wide scope of topics including everything from a Tech Sanity Check to CIO Insights. Definitely worth a look!
The Next Web- A leading publication on internet technology, business and culture. Their conference information alone is enough of a reason to check them out. Every two weeks they update the site with a list with all of the best conferences from around the world.
CIO- Here’s another site that hosts multiple blogs; beyond that, they’ve also got a section for whitepapers, a job board, and plenty of extensive research and analysis.
CNET- This is one of the top places to get extensive product reviews and the latest tech news. Should you buy that gadget now, or wait for the new one? Odds are you’ll find an answer here.
We could go on and on about all the useful resources online for IT and tech news, but we’d rather hear from you: help us finish this list with your own favorite go-to sites. Let us know in the comments section which blogs and publications you read for up-to-date information that helps you stay ahead of the curve. We promise not to be jealous.
Printers, overnight mail, scanners, and fax machines are killing business productivity. More and more organizations are moving away from paper-based approaches to their critical business processes to reduce costs, improve security, and limit environmental impact. According to a recent Adobe study, “Paper: An Endangered Species?” the majority of managers surveyed had overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward paper-based processes and cited productivity, security, attracting talent and going green as the benefits of a completely digital workflow. The research is based on interviews with 1,051 U.S. managers in small, medium and large businesses that are responsible for creating or working with contracts.
51% of respondents said that a digital workflow makes filing and managing documents easier
More than two-thirds believe that paper-based contracts are prone to defacing
76% of respondents said they are impressed by companies that have a strong digital presence
98% of respondents noted they still use paper in their transactions involving contracts
Organizations that use eSignatures are seeing a dramatic decrease in the time needed to close deals, reduced contract negotiation times, faster “quote-to-cash”, and a safer, more secure way to track and store some of their most critical business documents. And all eSignatures are backed by the federal ESIGN Act, ensuring the legality of the contract, which should put the customer at ease.
There are some business professionals who still categorize “Apps” as flashy games, and social networks as places where employees go to play. However, every year business-focused Apps continue to hit the marketplace and add value to small, medium and large businesses alike – whether it’s helping employees more efficiently connect with each other, clients, industry networks or providing real-time analytics on billing, contracts, documents or even miles traveled on behalf of the company or client. As recent years have proven, nearly every business interaction nowadays has a digital or simpler solution with technology.
Forbes recently posted an article naming EchoSign in their top 10 Apps to make your business more productive. The EchoSign app enables business pros to take their business deals anywhere in the world – allowing them to send, sign, store and manage contracts and deals with ease. Other apps noted in the article include: Meeting Mapper and StratPad.
As technology evolves, what are some of your predictions for the next round of business-focused apps that will continue to save time and beef up profits and productivity in the next two years? Take a look at the rest of Forbes 10 Mobile Apps to Make Your Business More Productive in 2013.
UPDATE for FEBRUARY 20, 2013: Patches are now available for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI for Windows and Macintosh, X for Windows and Macintosh, and 9 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Please refer to the Security Advisory section of the Adobe website as well as the Adobe PSIRT blog for details.
Adobe plans to make available updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.01 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, X (10.1.5 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Linux during the week of February 18, 2013. Adobe will continue to provide updates on these issues via the Security Advisory section of the Adobe website as well as the Adobe PSIRT blog. Please refer to these resources for any details.
The Acrobat team is excited to announce the launch of its first Acrobat X video series, “I Didn’t Know Acrobat Could Do That!” In this series, Lori DeFurio, Group Product Marketing Manager, Acrobat Solutions, will show you 10 ways to innovate your every day work with our recently released Acrobat X software. Lori will kick off the series by saving you time (and time is money) by demonstrating how the Action Wizard can help you shorten repetitive tasks. Combined, these 10 videos will provide you with enough Acrobat X tips and tricks to make you an expert in no time. So make sure to follow @Acrobat on Twitter as we tweet out the videos throughout the upcoming weeks!
