Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

As a business owner, I’m sure you’ve reviewed your business expenses… but have you ever gone through them and wondered just what it was that you had spent your money on? It’s an understandable feeling to have. The many different IT expenses that show up on the standard invoice can add up quickly, and might inspire you to reconsider how you’re investing them… besides, how much do you really need an IT provider that you never seem to call?

There is no denying that social media is one of the most powerful communication tools of our time, especially for businesses trying to communicate with their clients and customers. However, while you will want to have an account for your business on social media, you might not want a presence of your own. Today, we’ll discuss this quandary, and how you can resolve it.

Sometimes threats come from the most unlikely places. One such threat came in the form of Apple’s FaceTime app, which gives users the ability to spy on others without their consent through group FaceTime calls. Even though a patch has been issued that solves the problem, it’s still worth reflecting on.

When we map out a network for a business, a huge factor that goes into the decision-making process is about the data that travels across the network. Your organization’s data, and it’s security and continuity, is extremely important. In fact, we feel it’s one of the most important aspects of your business.

Movies and television shows are a big part of our culture. When hackers are portrayed on the silver (or small) screen, there are some major dramatic elements added to their performances to keep the audience from dismissing key pieces of plot. Today, we will look at hacker portrayals, and what Hollywood gets right, and what it gets completely wrong.

In a recent update, Microsoft added Skype to the taskbars of many PCs. While many may believe that they don’t use Skype, they actually have an account because it is tied to their Microsoft account. If you don’t want people to be able to find you on the video chatting service, you’re going to want to follow the instructions we’ve outlined here.

If you were to ask us what one of the most important cybersecurity features to have is, chances are, we’d answer “secure passwords.” Sure, this might be the answer that you’d hear from everyone, but that’s because it is really that important. For our tip, we’ll illustrate how it’s so important by examining a few key processes hackers use to crack a password.

Of all industries, retail has probably escaped the dependence on technology that many others have developed over the years for the longest span of time. However, it has become clear that there are many ways that IT solutions can assist the retail sector that just weren’t present in the past. However, this shift is proving challenging for many of this industry’s leaders.

Businesses that have been around the block a time or two may have discovered specific software titles that yield little-to-no results. Some might even be security risks that you simply aren’t willing to expose your data to. The free or cheap software found by some organizations to make up for operational deficiencies don’t always cut it, and some can even put your business at risk. This week’s tip is dedicated to finding the best software for your business.

Technology innovation continues to move rapidly. It seems that every few days that there is a major breakthrough with some type of IT or other computer-based technology that is seemingly going to change the world; or, at the very least improve humanity in some way. Sometimes, however, it just wasn’t meant to be. We’ll take a look at a few technologies that once were shoo-ins to transform society, only to have come up short in one way or another.

Automation is all around us, in almost any industry one could name. This is because there are many benefits that it can offer a business of any size. Having said this, these businesses need to be careful, as there are a few situations in which improperly leveraging automation will actually hurt productivity. Let’s review these benefits and detriments in a bit more detail.

Nowadays, it’s odder not to utilize technology in the office environment. This, if anything, only makes it more important for you to embrace the proper technology that matches your office’s approach to the responsibilities and tasks of every day. For this week’s tip, we’ll look at a few reasons why you may want to make laptops the office’s standardized device.

The cloud has made so many services accessible that it can be difficult to isolate one in particular your organization can benefit from. Nonetheless, we’ve tried to narrow it down a bit, and it’s clear that Voice over Internet Protocol is a solution that all businesses can benefit from for one specific reason. Let’s dig in to why VoIP is such a great tool to use in the cloud, particularly in regard to the argument of hosted vs on-site VoIP.

It has become more evident than ever: any business that wants to be successful needs to have the proper means of communication established. For many years, this meant utilizing email for business correspondence. Now, while email still has a valuable place in business operations, users rely on messaging platforms that almost ensure that they get their point across instantly.

When you’re trying to run a business, there are a few things that you will require of your technology solutions. However, finding a solution that fits the bill isn’t always the easiest thing to do independently. That’s why we’re dedicating this week’s tip to an overview on using Google’s solutions for your business’ benefit.

In this day and age, it seems that everything is being digitized - even your business’ signage. This is to your benefit, as digital signage offers many capabilities that a traditional sign just can’t. If you’re on the fence about adding a digital signage strategy to your business, we have a few reasons to consider it a viable solution.

A lot of good can be accomplished by making a change to your business’ technology. On the other hand, if you don’t properly implement technology it can be a devastating blow to your business; and, not in the way you may think. With today’s employees getting more and more computer savvy, if you don’t feature the right technology, it could be a reason that your employees leave your company.

Virtualization has opened a world of opportunity for businesses seeking a more flexible business computing system, rather than a disparate and occasionally wasteful collection of computing components. For this week’s tip, we’ll walk through the process of adopting virtualization and what that will entail for your business.

One of the most prominent benefits that technology has lent to businesses and their operations is how much more potential productivity these businesses can enjoy--that is, assuming that these businesses leverage the right technology solutions. Today, we’ll review three solutions that can provide your business with a much greater level of productivity than what could have been achieved in the past.

Every business produces thousands of documents. Invoices, memos, receipts, and the presence of all the other essential documents creates a situation: where do you store all this paper? The file cabinet was a good solution for this, but what happens when you fill one up? Do you just get another? And another? And another?