Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

One of the most recognizable names in technology isn’t a person, it’s a virtual assistant: Cortana. While Cortana has been of great use to many users, sometimes that user isn’t actually the person who owns the device and is just someone else in the same room. This can be annoying, but there’s a way to acquaint Cortana with a single user’s voice and listen to them exclusively.

Merry Christmas! We know that for the small business owner, even on Christmas day, business doesn’t completely stop. Sure you can spend time with loved ones and take a couple days off from the grind, but tomorrow is another day. According to one study, people are gifting technology more than ever, so much so that new traditions that include technology, are replacing the once-held notion that technology was a distraction.

Identifying a qualified managed service provider can be challenging--especially if you don’t know what to look for. You should be able to gauge the worth of an IT provider based on a couple of key qualifications, just like you would if you were selecting an employee. What are some of the primary features that you want to look for in a managed service provider?

Microsoft Excel has been around for quite some time, but it’s one of the trickier Microsoft Office solutions to master. You might know all about some of the more common Excel tricks, but do you know these power shortcuts that can help you fully take advantage of the spreadsheet software? Here are some obscure Excel shortcuts that your organization can take advantage of.

We often go into depth about technology, management, and other business-oriented topics, and occasionally we decide to talk about a technology that may not be all that familiar to people with the hope that a short primer on the subject will ultimately help our readers to become curious and do their own research to understand the technology better. With Bitcoin being a trending topic in the news, understanding what a blockchain is will help you understand how this technology will drive data security in the coming years.

In the modern business setting, collaboration drives productivity. As a result, many software developers are producing software with collaboration in mind. Since these developers are all in competition with each other for market share, they are typically trying to build on more advanced features to outmaneuver the other companies. Some of the biggest names in the industry have recently updated their products to make collaboration a priority. This week we’ll take a look at updates made to Facebook Workplace, Gmail, and Slack.

Data backup and disaster recovery are two of the linchpins of any business that relies on data and IT solutions storing information. Your business needs to have a plan for when operations are interrupted due to an unforeseeable data loss event. There are a few ways that you can keep your data backups as safe and efficient as possible.

Information is one of the most valuable assets available to businesses, but to be fair, there’s an awful lot of falsified information found on the Internet. Due to the increased focus on data acquisition and dissemination, false information is more harmful and easy to manipulate than ever before. The thing about this is that “fake news” is actually reliant on technology to work.

How quickly could your business recover if it were suddenly hit by a Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attack? Are you protected against the effects they could have on your operations? If asked these questions, most businesses should want to say yes, but in reality, over half lack the means to defend against DDoS.

Your business might have a limited budget, but this shouldn’t hold you back from implementing the best and strongest security solutions. However, security is a complicated process for any business. This is problematic, especially since common threats and vulnerabilities show up frequently in the business environment. We’ll walk you through some security basics so that you can optimize your organization's protection.

The primary reason that businesses are opened is to make money. Whether it’s to sustain a lifestyle, provide funds for a cause, or some other goal, a business needs an incoming cash flow in order to stay open. However, this is a fairly large problem for many small businesses, as their invoices often don’t return in a timely manner.

Businesses are taking advantage of new tools every day to make sure that their projects are handled in the most successful way possible. One of these tools is Microsoft SharePoint, which can eliminate many of the major pain points of project management. Regardless of what type of business you run, we’re confident that Microsoft SharePoint can be a valuable asset for your organization. Here are three ways you can take advantage of SharePoint.

Your email inbox can quickly become an overwhelming mess without the proper management, but who has the time to sort through their email inbox on top of all of their other, more urgent responsibilities? Fortunately for Gmail users, the program provides the answer with its filter feature. For this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to regain control of your inbox with filters.

Social engineering is one of the trickiest parts of protecting your organization. It might sound like something out of a science fiction flick, but it’s one of the most dangerous attacks that a hacker can use against your business. Social engineering attempts to manipulate the target into giving away sensitive credentials or personal information for the purpose of stealing identities and other malicious intentions.

You might think you know all of the tricks that a mouse is capable of, but you would be wrong. Here are some of the niftiest uses possible for your mouse.

It can often be difficult to figure out what to get someone for a holiday gift. Fortunately, there is almost always a new gadget or gizmo that can make someone with particular interests happy. In this blog, we’ll go over a few cool gadgets that make excellent special-interest gifts.

The holiday season is upon us, which means that many will soon be opening packages in the hopes of finding a mobile phone nestled inside. Perhaps you or a loved one are one of these people. However, deciding upon a phone to request has become more difficult, as the market has become inundated with options.

Running a business isn’t cheap, which results in budgets becoming strained under their operational needs. A major contributor to this strain is often the security-focused line items. However, there are a few means and methods to getting the most out of your security budget.

Everyone makes mistakes. This is especially true when it comes to the technology that is used by your organization every single day. For this week’s tip, here are some things to avoid when using your computer.

How many applications does your business use on a daily basis? Managing and maintaining them all can be quite the challenge for a number of reasons--particularly if your organization doesn’t have a dedicated IT technician. It’s important that you take a look at your current situation and determine what roadblocks there are that could cause problems for your organization's securty.