Over the past several years there has been a monumental shift in the availability of tools on the Internet, and at the beginning of 2020, analysts thought that this type of service delivery would continue to grow at a swift rate. They didn’t account for a global pandemic. 

We typically like to remind people as much as we can of the importance of staying up-to-date with your organization’s cybersecurity. There are plenty of things you can do to strengthen your grip on your network. This month we thought we’d go over some of the solutions we offer to help our clients secure their network and infrastructure. 

The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of situations for many, many people. One way it changed businesses is that they had to find a way to conduct business when their business models had been upheaved by the need to support newly remote workforces. One solution that most businesses (and individuals for that matter) found was video conferencing. This month we will tell you why the video conference is not just a remote solution, but also the new normal for businesses. 

With email being such a huge part of doing business, phishing has become a favorite tool of many scammers. To fight back, it is key that you know how to recognize a phishing email, so we’re dedicating some time to doing just that.

Is the era of the desktop computer over? Is it time to rip the bandage off and ditch the traditional bulky tower, cables, and monitors for something sleeker, lighter, and more specialized?

Maybe!

There are a lot of different ways that companies and organizations approach data backup, ranging from backing up everything to backing up literally nothing (which we do not recommend). In many ways, backup is simply a form of insurance—the difference being that you’re investing in a solution to a problem, rather than a means to cover your business’ damages.

Businesses are always looking for a way to boost productivity. Some businesses will try almost anything to do so. For the individual, however, managing your productivity is a little less complicated. That’s not to say that it is always simple. Typically, the best way to improve productivity is to improve time management. How does one go about changing their behaviors to improve their productivity? Let’s take a look at a couple of ways.

Bitcoin entered the pantheon of interesting technologies just over 12 years ago, and while you’ve probably heard a fair amount about them, you may not really understand what Bitcoin—and other cryptocurrencies—are. Well, this month we’re going to try to give you a basic rundown of what a Bitcoin is.

Sometime recently, novelty holidays have popped up for almost anything. Many of which just aim to celebrate the things about our lives that make life worth living. Take any random day, like May 12. There are a half-dozen “holidays” that day: National Limerick Day, National Odometer Day, National Nutty Fudge Day, National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, National Receptionists’ Day, and National Third Shift Workers Day. So, May 12 runs the gamut of human existence. 

Working in technology can be illuminating. We constantly are coming across situations that we’ve never seen before. Sometimes this is the result of how fast technology moves, and sometimes it has to do with a business’ IT strategy; but, regardless of the issues we are asked to fix, we realize that without our clients, we’d be nothing. That’s why we decided to discuss some of the variables that every business owner should know about managed IT services.

With all the threats covered in mass media nowadays, it can be too simple to get the mistaken impression that the biggest threats to your business are all external. We’re telling you right now that plenty of vulnerabilities first come from inside your business, both creating significant dangers independently and simplifying the job for external threats as well. Let’s go over a few of the dangers that could originate from inside your business itself.

Many small business owners are in a very tough position. Not only have they had to navigate months of government-mandated limitations, health scares, and rising vendor prices, they also don’t have any definitive answers to when this whole period might be over; and, what a new normal will look like when it is. For these reasons it is crucial that an organization has solid leadership in place. 

With numerous vaccines now being deployed, it finally seems that there is an end to the COVID-19 pandemic at some point in the future. While we still have some ways to go, it would be helpful to look ahead and plan for how we can implement some of the lessons this period has taught us—especially in the workplace.

Businesses generate and collect a huge amount of data and some of it is practically useless. Other files, however, are critical to your business and operations. The important files require redundancy. This is why it is important to back up your data. 

Not all businesses will look at disaster recovery the same way, but if you want your business to have the kind of continuity that will allow it to get through tough situations, doing your best to formally create a disaster recovery policy will put you in the position to weather any storm you encounter.

Nothing changes the fortunes of a business more than clear lines of communication and with nearly every organization looking to reduce redundancies, a lot of businesses are starting to take advantage of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions, using the resources they already have in place to avoid paying twice over. 

The cloud has been a good resource for business for quite a while. Just how good? Currently, nine-out-of-ten businesses operate with some type of cloud-hosted solution. In fact, by the figures, we’re looking at a cloud-hosted future. We thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the cloud computing stats and trends to paint a picture of just how the cloud has grown up. 

There are a lot of words that a business owner doesn’t like to hear. One of the worst has to be downtime as it signifies waste. This month, we’ll examine the effects of downtime and how to calculate the financial impact of a downtime event.

Over a quarter of all data breaches happen to small businesses. The cost of a data breach is really prohibitive to your business’ operational and financial health. To keep your business’ data and infrastructure free of threats and relatively secure, small businesses will need a combination of useful technology tools and well-designed strategies. Let’s take a look at several steps your small business can take to secure itself from digital theft.

Your organization needs its technology to fuel its day-to-day operations. That means they need to be maintained. Organizations that don’t have an IT department will often look to use different strategies to ensure their IT is up and running. Without the proper expertise, however, keeping this technology maintained can be a major problem.