Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

As of September of 2019, research conducted by Verizon states that almost half of enterprises--half--are willing to sacrifice their mobile security in order to gain “advantages” in speed and productivity. This marks an increase from just 2018, when this metric measured at a still-too-high one-third of enterprises. Of course, such behaviors could bring severe consequences. 

Finding ways to maximize productivity is typically high on a business owner’s to-do list. The problem is that often managers can’t find a way to effectively motivate their people into doing more. One proven way to get more out of your staff is to gamify their tasks. Let’s take a look at the practice. 

Your business is bound to collect a sizable cache of data, a significant percentage of which being the kind used to identify someone. This is exactly the kind of data that cybercriminals are looking for, which means it needs to be protected. Here, we’re covering the basics of how you can help secure your data’s integrity against cybercrime.

With the sheer number of processes needed to keep a business of any size running smoothly, it is no wonder that automation is as popular as it is. Fortunately, automation doesn’t have to be difficult to implement. Let’s go over a few simple ways that you can use it to your advantage, and a few reasons why you might want to do so.

With all of the accounts that people have these days, it almost--almost--makes sense that people tend to use passwords that are too short, overly simple, and repeat across multiple accounts. Unfortunately, the only thing this does is to make accounts less secure. As a result, more and more authentication requirements are being put into place to keep security a priority.

Now that Windows 7 is history, Windows 10 is the predominant operating system on workstations. It doesn’t take users long to realize that it is superior in many ways to older OSs, but when you start it up for the first time, you will want to customize things a bit so you can most efficiently use the Windows 10 experience. Let’s take a look at three actions you can take that will help you make Windows 10 yours.

The smartphone has come to define computing in recent years. With this new role, public demand for more powerful and useful hardware persists in every market. As the calendar turns to 2020, the flagship phones offer a computing experience that is remarkable. Today, we take a look at a few of the best options you will find, and provide you with their specifications.

Before we roll out the list, we want to be transparent. We don’t have a horse in this race. Any manufacturer’s flagship smartphone will be more than enough for the lion’s share of things it’s needed for. Regardless who makes your smartphone, the important part is to get one that will sufficiently handle the applications, storage, and action you will need it for. 

Shadow IT is the moniker that people in the technology industry have coined for applications that employees download that aren’t vetted for use on an organization’s networks. For the better part of the past decade, IT administrators have universally demeaned the use of unsanctioned software for use on company networks due to potential vulnerabilities that come with these applications and any phantom costs associated with their use. What may surprise you is that some organizations are rolling back their shadow IT policies. Today, we will take a look at both ends of this issue.

How well-maintained are your business’ critical IT solutions? Before you answer, you should know that we’re referring to more than just running the occasional virus scan or update - we’re talking about keeping up on the status of your entire infrastructure. To really do so, we put an assortment of tools and services to use to keep up comprehensive records.

The data stored on your computer is valuable, and that’s a fact. Unfortunately, this means that there are unscrupulous characters out there who will want to get at this data, so you will need to have the right solutions in place to protect it. Part of this will require you to have a firewall included in your protections.

Cybercrime has been on the rise over the last few years, and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. As it turns out, bad actors can turn a profit by targeting businesses, and their tools and tactics are only getting trickier.

In business, Portable Document Format (PDF) documents are encountered constantly. The benefit is that they are a great way to share and receive documents on any device. One main problem many people run into is that they think that it’s a read-only format. Today, we turn this common misconception on its head by providing some tips on how to better manipulate the PDFs you receive. 

Fortunately, businesses are doing more to secure their data. It wasn’t always so, but with the current threat landscape the way it is, it is essential that business owners do what they can to protect their data. A critical part (but not the only part) of this is to back it up. Today, we will take a look at data backup and explain how it has to be an essential part of your business’ cybersecurity strategy

In order for a business to succeed, it needs to create the proper relationships with a variety of parties. From their clients and customers, to their vendors, to other businesses they work with, the average business has a lot of contacts they need to manage - which is why a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application is so valuable.

If you have used Microsoft Word, there’s a very good chance that you’ve become irritated at the occasional insistence that when you type, sometimes Word will make seemingly random adjustments to the formatting of dates, hyphenated content, and other elements. Here, we’re offering some tips to help you put a lid on these irritating changes.

As a managed IT services provider, we are constantly trying to find the most effective ways to communicate just how much value our services can bring a business, nonprofit, or municipal organization. Since almost all organizations rely heavily on their technology, it stands to reason that getting the most value out of their IT support should be a priority. In many ways, managed IT services are the answer to this issue. Let’s look at some of the most valuable parts of using managed services. 

With just days before Microsoft retires two of its most popular operating systems, the quarter of computer users worldwide are at the risk of losing support on January 14, 2020. Therefore, we wanted to take this opportunity to explore the ramifications of an end of support event, and what you can do in response.

We all want to make our businesses more efficient, because the more efficient a business is, the more effective it can be. One clear way to do so is to boost your business’ organization tactics - both literally, and more abstractly. For today’s tip, we’ll cover what we mean, and share a few strategies for you to employ.

With most everything having gone digital, most consumers have changed their preferred payment method. Many different factors contribute to credit cards becoming the most used payment. Today, we take a look at why this has become a popular means of payment, as well as weigh the pros and cons of credit cards. 

For the average PC user, the Internet browser is probably the most utilized piece of software other than your OS. Depending on which browser you use, you may decide to download additional software to give you features that you typically don’t have or give you functionality that is all new. Before you use these software add-ons, you should know that there have been several examples of this software working against users. Let’s take a look at how browser extensions work and how you can get better functionality without putting your data at risk.