One of the most popular business technology trends that we're seeing is employees bringing their own devices into the workplace (BYOD). This trend is due to the popularity of mobile devices (owned by over half of all U.S. adults). While this trend benefits companies in many ways like enhancing mobility, implementing BYOD for a business is not without risks.
If you haven't yet upgraded from Windows XP, then you and 29% of the world must have strong reasons for hanging on to a twelve year old product. Unfortunately, everybody's strong reasons won't hold water come April 8th when Microsoft stops supporting XP with new security patches.
When people talk about "phoning it in," they usually refer to purposely doing subpar work at their job. However, when a computer breaks and someone "phones it in," they're referring to calling remote IT support, which has a completely different connotation because remote IT service is service that's of the highest quality!
It's crucial that your company's network has a strong firewall in place to keep your data safe; although, one firewall may not be enough. In the case of an actual fire, you will want to have a real firewall to keep your servers safe. We're talking about a firewall for your firewall. This sounds redundant, but redundancy makes for good security.
Tablets have a reputation for being a fun consumer product, but they can also be utilized as a practical business tool. In fact, tablets can be used to accomplish a variety of business-related tasks. Here are five practical uses for tablets that you can use around the office.
The end-of-support date for Windows XP is April 8. If you're still running XP, then you likely have a strong reason for it. Although, your reason may not be strong enough in light of how big of a security risk XP will be. Let's dismantle three of the most common reasons people are choosing to stick with XP.
This statistic comes from California-based market research firm In-Stat, and it highlights the growth of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. To give you an idea of how far VoIP has come in recent years, this figure was at 42% just five years ago. Is your business taking advantage of the VoIP revolution?
For a business owner, leaving money on the table is the worst feeling because it means passing up on easy money. From forgetting to upsell to a customer to having a delivery route be longer than it needs to be, there are many ways that businesses leave money on the table. Take a look at your company's technology; you may be leaving money on the table by using inefficient technology that's literally sitting on your table.
Microsoft's Note-taking application is something of an enigma. Most of the time, Microsoft Office users have OneNote installed and don't even realize it or use it. This handly little secret has some pretty powerful features. Here are three tips that will change the way you take phone calls and write notes on your PC.
We live in a time where information technology has touched every facet of life. It would be a fair bet to assume that, at this point, it is more commonplace than a trend. We are inundated with Internet-connected computer systems in every aspect of life. We use automated tellers to do our banking, most major retailers have automated checkouts to supplement the work staff they have in place, and even your Grandma uses Gmail. With this technology saturated into the culture, there are many pragmatic uses that are just now being discovered and implemented. Nowhere is this more true than in the health care industry.
A business that manages its data efficiently will be well positioned to handle growth. One of the most crucial components of data management is ensuring that everything is backed up properly; an increasingly difficult task as businesses use more data every year. Implementing a cost-effective and reliable data backup solution should be the goal of every IT professional.
Consolidation makes life easier. Your smartphone is a prime example of this: consolidating dozens of individual gadgets down to one easy-to-use device that can fit inside your pocket. Before smartphones, we had to travel with a carry-on bag full of electronics, but now, thanks to smartphones, traveling is much easier. This principle of consolidation also applies to IT services.
The CEO baton at Microsoft has been passed from Steve Ballmer to Satya Nadella, making Nadella the third CEO in Microsoft's well-publicized history. You may not think that this will have an impact on your business, but considering how intertwined Microsoft is with the the global economy, you may be surprised to learn that this move will affect your company.
When your business runs efficiently, you will see the positive side effects start relatively quickly. While this seems pretty reasonable to most everyone, there are many business owners that don't know how to best produce the kind of efficiency that will take their business to the next level.
Mobile devices are changing the technology landscape in the modern office. What kind of changes are smartphones specifically having on human productivity? We are looking at this question in two parts. In our last blog article we looked at how mobile devices impact networking. In part two, we will take a look at smartphones and human awareness.
What kind of phone do you have? Or rather, what kind of person does your phone have? With people relying on constant connectivity and constant communication, do devices have an interface for constant productivity, or is it just a constant distraction? Do all these outstanding new gadgets have the kind of value business professionals claim they do?
As the world of business becomes increasingly dependent upon technology, the role of IT is changing. Historically, the IT department has been viewed as a separate entity in the office that fixes and maintains the IT infrastructure. Today, more companies are involving IT when making important business decisions. Have you consulted your IT professional lately?
Some people refuse to upgrade their technology because they're ardently committed to the principle of "if it's not broke, don't fix it." We admire a person's resolve to stand up for their convictions, but there are cases when old technology gets in the way of profits. Here are four examples of old technologies that may be holding your business back.
"Heigh-ho, heigh-ho. It's off to work we go!" Do you know the secret to why Dwarves are so good at mining? It's because they don't have an Internet connection in the caves to distract them from digging and singing. If you're looking to turn your staff into a loyal Dwarf-like workforce, then you will want to take advantage of content filtering.
Is your business taking advantage of desktop virtualization? It's a great money-saving solution that allows you to host a desktop environment from your server so that it can be accessed remotely on a terminal or device via your network. Businesses wanting to control their data while enjoying the conveniences of the cloud will get the most from desktop virtualization.
