Macro Systems Blog

If one fact has been proven true, it’s that remote and hybrid work are not temporary trends, they're future operating models that help businesses achieve greater flexibility and talent retention. Of particular interest is hybrid work, an approach that mixes the demands of in-office work with the advantages and flexibility of remote work. If you want to build hybrid work into your operational infrastructure, there can be no denying that your IT infrastructure has to be locked in—especially if you want to stay productive, secure, and competitive.

Listed below are the benefits and risks of hybrid work as an operational model for your business.

With AI entering the mainstream, more businesses are implementing these tools into their daily operations. Tasks like drafting emails, brainstorming for a new project, or debugging code have all been made easier. Here’s the secret to making the most out of AI: you get out what you put in. What do we mean by this? Let’s find out.

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic these days; most businesses are utilizing it for a multitude of things. With everyone all-aboard the AI train, it’s easy to confuse the computational power and speed AI offers to be infallible. Alas, AI can get things going sideways if you aren’t careful. When it does go wrong, the consequences can be more than just an inconvenience.

Listed below are some of the most important ways AI can go wrong:

Pop culture has given us a vivid, if often frightening, impression of artificial intelligence. When we hear AI, many still picture calculated malice: a HAL 9000, a Skynet, or an Ultron.

The real potential of AI is far more productive; it's less about calculating world domination and more about becoming your organization's most helpful collaborator. Think of it as a JARVIS for your executive team or an R2-D2 for your operational staff: a powerful tool that assists your team in generating ideas, solving complex problems, and completing high-volume tasks. Critically, maximizing this potential doesn't require new hardware; it requires sharpening the very soft skills we already value in our top performers: curiosity, empathy, and resilience.

Business is already complicated enough without having to remember all of your passwords. Alas, logins and sign-ons are a necessary part of operations, and without them, work isn’t going to get anywhere. However, there is a solution to the problem of having too many accounts with too many unique credentials, and it all starts by asking a simple question.

When was the last time you gave the time of day to your business’ phone system? The Internet has mostly made traditional telephone solutions obsolete, yet countless businesses still cling to them for dear life. However, dismissing the importance of the telephone as a way to connect with your customers would be foolish, so our focus today is how businesses like yours can implement phone solutions that leverage the good while eliminating the bad.

Your company's relationship with IT has a direct correlation to how well it operates. If your technology fails, your business suffers productivity losses, as well as financial ones due to decreased reliability in the eyes of customers and clients. One of the best ways to ensure you’re following through on the promises you make to your customers is to implement a proactive IT strategy to replace the reactive approaches seen in the past.

Does your business have the good fortune of having an in-house IT department? More likely than not, even if you do, your department has maybe a couple of technicians at most, and they are all up to their ears in work, whether it’s keeping up with maintenance or struggling to implement new and innovative solutions. If you’re looking for ways to upgrade your organizational IT infrastructure, we recommend you start with a network audit to determine what needs to be done, and how Macro Systems can help you do it.

AI has revolutionized the way businesses operate, streamlining numerous tasks and changing how knowledge-based businesses function in record time. One of the ways that businesses are utilizing AI is customer support, but how effective is it really? Is there any merit to maintaining the human element of your customer service, or said in a different way, what can human customer support offer that AI cannot?

Business leaders and decision makers have a lot to deal with… and that’s before factoring in all the problems and obstacles that arise over the course of their normal operations, especially when it comes to the technology their businesses rely on.

Of course, a smart business owner would want their technology to be as reliable as possible, available without requiring conscious effort. As it happens, one of the modern options for IT support enables circumstances to be as close to this ideal as possible… but the other predominant option ultimately gives you more to worry about.

As we try to get as much fun from the final months of summer as possible, many of us will find it increasingly challenging to disconnect from the office, even from miles away. We could be lounging on a quiet beach in Bora Bora, but instead of enjoying the tranquility, we’d still be itching to check our emails. Instead of being able to truly relax, many team members and business owners still feel the pressures of the office even when away, essentially undoing any benefits of the vacation.

Let’s discuss how this can be addressed for the mutual benefit of everyone, allowing you and your team members to step away from time to time without causing disruptions.

Are you blindly sprinting forward where your technology is involved, picking things that sound good, hoping you have enough forward momentum to reach the next stop? Alas, this approach is often an option that many businesses take, usually to their detriment.

We want to remind you that there is a better way: creating an IT roadmap to strategically merge your technology with your more functional business goals, helping you progress with every dollar invested.

The Internet is a staple in most offices around the world, and it'd be hard to find one that doesn’t depend on it in some fashion. A large part of seeing success with the Internet relies on your bandwidth, as well as your network’s capacity to reach the capabilities of your Internet service provider. Listed below is a breakdown of what bandwidth is, as well as how you can make the most of your Internet package.

You should want your team to be ready and able to accomplish as much as possible. So, when a team member approaches you with a request for a better laptop or a dual-monitor setup and the wish to do more with their time, you should agree. That being said, there may be that little voice in the back of your head, whispering, “Was that a wise investment?”

It can be hard to balance the need for employee satisfaction with your budgetary restrictions, but it must be done. Listed below are the considerations you need to make… as well as the pitfalls that must be avoided.

There’s a specific stress that comes from the disconnect between the money you invest in your business IT and the value that comes back from it. Sure, you know what the money is being spent on… but that’s a far cry from knowing how these investments are shifting the needle.

Listed below: the importance of comprehending what your IT is telling you and when you need to demand more information… politely, of course.

Has this ever happened to you?

It’s late, after a long day of work, but you’re finally home and able to relax. Just as you get comfortable, your phone dings. You glance at your phone. It’s a work email… and if you’re like most, you’ll be itching just to check it and get it over with. The problem is, each time you do so, you whittle away the line between work and the rest of your life. This “always on” impression our technology offers has contributed to a few significant problems. 

Let’s see if we can address these problems.

You’ve probably heard the saying "work smarter, not harder". It usually describes the use of technology to bring time-and-money-saving advantages to the table that human workers can’t produce on their own. As good as technology is at enhancing productivity and efficiency, it only works if you are able to get your employees engaged. 

While the allure of shiny new gadgets and cutting-edge software is undeniable, the real magic happens when these investments directly translate into tangible productivity gains, transforming how we work and propelling businesses forward.

For decades, the business phone was a tether, firmly rooting you to your desk; Missed calls and unheard voicemails were just part of the deal if you stepped away. Today, when a lot of businesses depend on remote and hybrid work, that's no longer acceptable. It's time for a significant upgrade, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the answer.

The CIO or Chief Information Officer of any company has a lot of pressure on them to get their organization’s technology right. Not only do they need to put strategies in place that will help the company prosper; they need to take the brunt of the heat when these IT initiatives don’t work out in the way they forecast them to. A lot of their job is to say yes when their best instinct is to say no. Listed below is a look at three of the technologies that today’s CIOs are green-lighting.

How long has your workstation been in use? How long does it take to boot up, to access your user profile, to load the documents you need to work on?

It can be extremely tempting to put off any investment into new hardware… after all, it still works, doesn’t it? Well, depending on your answers to the above questions, it may not. Don’t fall into the classic trap of relying on hardware that is simply too old to support your needs. It’s more costly than you’d think.