Technology is what keeps the modern business running, be it something as simple as a word processor or as complex as a server unit. Unfortunately, many businesses struggle with technology procurement, management, and maintenance. Let’s take a look at why this is the case and what you can do to help this process along, chiefly by implementing managed services.
When considering a continuity plan for your business, you need to consider some scenarios that may not ever happen. This is called risk management and it is the basis of keeping your business up and running regardless of the situations that it encounters. This month, we thought we would outline some of the variables that need to be addressed when creating a comprehensive business continuity plan.
Your IT may not be the simplest part of your business but it doesn’t have to be a major problem. If you can get just a couple things right, the rest of the work can be made much easier. At the end of the day, three of the most important components of your internal IT infrastructure will be how you maintain it, how you secure it, and how you back it up.
Using microprocessor-based technology is now a way of life for a majority of people, and with that a massive demand is created for these components. Unfortunately, demand—as well as the COVID-19 pandemic—has caused difficulties for many organizations’ supply chains, including microprocessors. Today, we will go through the microchip shortage, how it affects consumers and when experts project that it will subside.
The term “encryption” has found its way into the mainstream, appearing just about anywhere information security is brought up. Whether it is ransomware encrypting data or the encryption protecting your password security, it is a powerful tool that can be used for both good and evil. Let’s discuss the former and how you might use encryption in the workplace.
When was the last time you actually had a decent experience working with a vendor? Depending on who you are trying to contact and work with, it can either be an extraordinarily pleasant or an extraordinarily painful experience. Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to work with vendors at all? What if you could just contact a trusted resource who could handle everything for you? Well, you’re in luck; that just so happens to be what vendor management is all about!
The COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the workforce to work remotely, but now that the pandemic is receding in several parts of the world, the question of if this workforce will continue to work remotely is up for debate. A report from Gartner suggests that things will move in the opposite direction from what you might expect. Let’s dive into what this report suggests and what it might mean for your business moving forward.
For a lot of businesses, employee mobile phone usage was once a big problem for them. There have been some businesses that actually hired someone to walk around their office telling people to get off their phones. Some businesses outlawed employee devices altogether. There probably are some businesses out there that still limit the use of these devices in their office, but for most businesses, their employees’ smartphones are now completely part of their productivity strategy. Let’s take a quick look at the shift from banned to benefit in this month’s newsletter.
Finding talent can be difficult for businesses, especially for those that are challenged by variables such as their geographic location (not as big of a problem thanks to remote employment), but more often than not, budget will be the key holdup for small businesses seeking top talent. Thankfully, even small businesses can hire top talent through the process known as outsourcing, which is particularly helpful for acquiring talented and qualified IT professionals.
Data backup is something that some organizations think they can do without, simply because they believe that it’s only valuable to have in the event that something wrong happens. Well, we’re here to break the bad news that if something can go wrong, it most likely will go wrong… at least at some point. With automated cloud backups, however, the chances of some unexpected emergency ending your business are drastically reduced.
Everyone always tries to drive home the importance of passwords, but the simple fact of the matter is that passwords in today’s day and age are not enough to keep your business safe. While passwords are still important, they play a relatively small role compared to some of the more advanced security features that businesses must implement in order to stay as secure as possible.
Remote work carries with it a different set of risks than does a traditional workplace setup. Being forced to move in that direction only exacerbates the issue of figuring out how to operate under what people are calling the “new normal”. This month we thought we would go through a couple of the risks that come with having your staff working remotely, and what to do about them.
When was the last time you wished your device had just a little bit of gas left in the tank? Smartphone batteries tend to degrade over time, regardless of how preventative and proactive we are with our day-to-day use. To help you be as productive as possible with your smartphone while the battery is still functional, we have put together a list of tips that you can use to help keep your battery as full as possible throughout the workday.
All businesses collect data of some sort, whether it’s for the purposes of storing customer information or product specifications. However, not all businesses understand the importance of this data; in fact, you could be sitting on countless opportunities for growth without even realizing it. Here are some ways that you can take commonly procured data and transform it into actionable steps for growth.
With so many technical terms to know and processes to understand, one might think that the only possible way to take care of your IT infrastructure is to hire professionals to monitor and maintain every aspect of it. While there is certainly a lot of truth to this statement, and working with professionals presents a ton of value, it doesn’t take a genius to implement small, common-sense practices that can compound over time.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the workforce to work remotely, but now that the pandemic is marginally receding in several parts of the world, the question of if this workforce will continue to work remotely is up for debate. A report from Gartner suggests that things will move in the opposite direction from what you might expect. Let’s dive into what this report suggests and what it might mean for your business moving forward.
When businesses onboard new employees, they typically have a series of qualifications they need applicants to meet in order to get to the interview process. Once they interview and are chosen from a list of applicants, the new hire does his/her entrance training and then it’s time to get to work. If your business doesn’t have the right training platforms in place, however, this process can take a lot longer than you’d like. This month, we thought we’d take a bit to go over this process and how getting the right training protocols in place upfront can have a positive effect on the way your new employees hit the ground running.
The world might still be suffering from a pandemic, but travel is slowly starting to pick up once again. When you feel safe and comfortable traveling again, it is of critical importance that you take steps to secure your technology while out of the office—especially your mobile devices. Here are some big ways that you can prioritize security while traveling.
The phrase “time is money” is something that you hear a lot, especially in the business environment. While this might be applied in small ways, such as employees taking one or two minutes longer on their breaks or leaving early for the day, the major issue with wasted time manifests itself in much larger and more unpredictable ways. The true silent killer of businesses is downtime, and you need to be aware of its impact on your organization on a holistic level.
Businesses were just hit with one of the worst disasters possible, and many of them were not prepared. It’s not often that a global pandemic hits, but businesses that were prepared to react to it were much more successful than ones that were forced to shoot from the proverbial hip. So while many businesses were overrun with new costs brought forth by the pandemic, the businesses that considered a situation like the one we’ve been facing for well over a year, and had a strategy for what they needed to accomplish to keep continuity during an event such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are faring quite a bit better than those that didn’t have a plan. This month we thought we’d outline a few ways your business can improve its disaster preparedness.
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