Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

Many businesses have begun to take advantage of the benefits that come with having remote workers. One tool that has seen an increase in utilization as a result is a conferencing solution. Communications are extremely important for the growing business, and with a full-featured conferencing tool at your disposal, you can expect to see the following benefits. 

How would you feel if a video of you appeared online, saying things that you never actually said? While you may not be the one targeted by this kind of action, this situation is very real, thanks to a relatively recent development in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Known as “deepfakes,” these videos have made it crucial to examine media from a place of skepticism.

We always recommend cloud platforms to our clients, especially those who need a central place to host important data and applications. However, it is possible to go too far when implementing cloud services. We’ll discuss how you can monitor your cloud computing costs, as well as how access to cloud solutions can be a detriment to your organization.

The Cloud. That big, vague entity where a lot of us our entrusting our information has lifted a huge burden off of businesses by alleviating the need for expensive onsite hardware. It makes user management a little more user friendly. It keeps us connected and in communication no matter where we are.

After years of talk about individual data privacy, and years enacting regional laws, the European Union’s flagship individual privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation went into effect a year ago in May. Suddenly, if your organization does business inside EU member states, you will be under a stringent regulation concerning individual data privacy. Today, we will look at the GDPR and what has changed in the year it has been law.

Microsoft is saying goodbye to OneNote 2016. Although the handy note-taking app will still be supported until October 2020, with extended support for a few more years after, Microsoft has decided to no longer add features to it, and instead, they are focusing on the new version of OneNote that comes bundled with Windows 10.

Microsoft’s handy little note-taking app, OneNote, is gearing up to hit the old dusty trail and retire. At least, that’s the plan for OneNote 2016, whose end of life coincides with the rest of the Office 2016 suite in October, 2020. Fortunately, most of us already have OneNote 2016’s successor installed. Wait, what?

A decade-old version of Microsoft’s popular database software SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 is losing support on July 9,2019. If your business hasn’t moved away from the software, you are looking at a few real pressing problems. Let’s take a look at the software and what options businesses that haven’t moved on from SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server R2 have going forward.

It is said that software runs the world, but it wouldn’t necessarily be so without the ability to integrate applications with others. What exactly makes these integrations possible? For this week’s tech term, we will briefly introduce you to the application programming interface, or API; and, why it's so crucial in software development today.

Every business has their version of risk management. Nowadays, with all the technology organizations use for productivity, collaboration, and communications, managing risk can often be difficult. There are numerous threats that come from the Internet that could put a damper on productivity, create inefficiencies, or shut down production entirely. Regardless of how large or small your business is, you need to prioritize the security of your computing network.

I recently read a statement from the National Security Agency (NSA) expressing concerns over the risks and vulnerabilities that come with running unpatched versions of older Windows operating systems. First, you know it’s serious if the NSA, an entity in the US who depends on the collection and processing of information, is worried that your personal information is at risk. Second, it’s another in a long line of reasons to not allow your network to fall into such disarray that you can no longer protect it.

Look, we get it… work isn’t always the most fun thing in the world. In fact, it can often be downright stressful - especially when distractions get in the way. Fortunately for our sanity, there are plenty of ways to help reduce - or even eliminate - this stress. We’ll go over a few of those ways here.

Ransomware has become a favorite attack vector for hackers - after all, for them, it’s pretty much a no loss game. They either get paid, or they move on to their next target. Unfortunately, cyberattackers that dispatch ransomware often do get paid, and these payments can sometimes come from a surprising source: cybersecurity firms.

Have you ever wondered what happens when hackers gain access to state-developed malware tools? Well, now you don’t have to; a type of malware called Double Pulsar, that has been utilized in the past by the NSA, was bundled with a Chinese hacking tool and used to carry out attacks on Hong Kong and Belgium in 2016. Needless to say, this threat is unnerving.

Waking up and going to work is the inevitable reality for billions of people, and sometimes people have a hard time acclimating to a new job. If that job is an office, there are some particular issues you will have to confront in order to get the most out of your time at work. Today, we look at five simple things you can do to make your life easier inside your office.

Businesses are expected to make a choice regarding which solutions they will utilize. Typically they choose between Google’s or Microsoft’s productivity solutions. The unfortunate side of the choice is that they are often used exclusively, meaning there was little interoperability between the two. Nowadays, however, Google is moving to allow users to edit Microsoft Office files in Google Docs.

Ransomware hasn’t let up. It is important to understand that any organization, of any kind, is a potential target of a ransomware attack - and yes, this includes municipalities. In fact, since 2013, over 170 government systems at the county, city, or state levels have been attacked.

As you have likely realized, the technology solutions that power your business today aren’t going to be effective forever. This means that you will at some point need to upgrade this technology - but this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Here, we offer a few tips to help you make it over some of the hurdles that a change to your technology can bring.

With so much on the line for businesses that deal with sensitive information, security needs to be considered a top priority. Unfortunately, one solution that works for every threat out there doesn’t exist. The right combination of enterprise-level security solutions can help your business secure its important data.

Whoops! Didn’t mean to delete that, did you? We’ve all found ourselves having accidentally deleted something important. Below, we’ll review how - with any luck - you might be able to restore this data.