Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

On the surface, Microsoft OneNote seems to be a pretty basic program - it’s just a quick place to jot notes, right? In actuality, OneNote offers functions far beyond that of a digital scratchpad. For this week’s tip, we’ll review some of these functions.

Wearable technology, or “wearables”, have been around for decades, technically first becoming popular with Pulsar’s Calculator Wristwatch in the 1970s. Since then, our wearables have become much more capable, accumulating detailed profiles on us as we use them. This begs the question… who is in charge of regulating them?

A small-to-medium-sized business, by definition, isn’t going to have the same resources that are afforded to enterprise corporations, especially where its IT is concerned. However, this doesn’t mean that the SMB is stuck using sub-par solutions. Here, we’ll review a few key needs of any business, and the solutions that an SMB can access to meet them.

In order for your business to effectively use its technology, you need to consider your data storage capabilities. You need to make sure that you’re in the Goldilocks zone (not too much, not too little, just right) in terms of your storage space in order to avoid issues. For this week’s tip, we’ll review some of the things you need to ask in order to optimize your business’ data storage.

Data is more of a commodity than it has ever been, and more often than not, companies spend a considerable sum on data security. Unfortunately, even the most well-defended organizations still have trouble keeping data safe. 2018 saw 446.5 million records exposed due to data breaches, even though the overall number of breaches dropped by 23 percent to 1,244 total. We’ll discuss some of the most notable breaches that have happened over the first four months of 2019.

Social media plays an increasing role in both the professional and personal sides of our lives. Unfortunately, this means that we all experience an increase in exposure to the many scam attempts that will appear on our screens. Like any kind of scam, the best defense against those that appear on social media is good, old-fashioned awareness and vigilance.

Now that we have access to better file storage and management than the file cabinets that we’ve historically utilized, our capabilities have increased exponentially… assuming, of course, that our better file storage and management solutions are kept organized. As this organization is so crucial to successfully undergoing your operations, we’re offering a few tips to help you keep your files in order.

For the modern business a lot of time is spent focusing on network security. The theory behind this action is that there are all types of threats that could be trying to get into your computer network. At a college, you’d expect that, since so much sensitive data, including personal, medical, and financial information--as well as intellectual property--is stored on college computers/servers, that the diligence of IT administrators would be even more conspicuous.

Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that a lot of people don’t know what to make of. Most people's experiences with VR have either been from a third-party perspective or seen through their smartphones with the help of a $20 headset you can get about anywhere. In fact, in a study done by Statistica, it was pretty evident that first-person experience with VR is very limited. Of the 3,000 people polled, only 16 percent of men and six percent of women admitted to trying a “real” VR headset. Today, we will take you through modern VR technology and see what the future potentially holds for virtual reality.

Facebook has become a highly effective networking tool in both our professional and personal lives. As I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, a business page on Facebook can bring a lot of attention to your company. Unfortunately, if someone were to use the wrong kind of language on your page, this attention likely wouldn’t be the kind you want your business to get. For this week’s tip, we’ll go over how you can get rid of this kind of content to protect your business’ reputation.

Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is a wonderful alternative to a business investing in high-end workstations. On one hand, it can save your business thousands of dollars by having your employees bring their own devices to the workplace. On the other, it could expose your network to untold risks. How can you strike a balance between the two and help your business prosper?

Advances in technology are changing the way people look at the world. One, seemingly simple way technology changes society is through the access to products. Companies like Amazon and eBay have changed retail forever with their use of the Internet, and today, most businesses prioritize their Internet-facing marketing efforts to find new customers. One industry that has popped up from the use of technology is app-based food delivery. Today, we will take a look at the food delivery industry.

Do you know what’s just as jarring as your computer’s volume suddenly being way too high? Suddenly not having any volume at all. Sound problems on your computer can be a real pain, especially if you have something important you need to listen to for one of your responsibilities. Here, we’re offering some tips to help you do some basic sound troubleshooting.

While many colleges and universities once associated themselves with thick tomes of knowledge, technology plays a critical role in their processes. In addition to all of the typical IT operations that any business must contend with, these bastions of learning also need to keep their students’ data secure, make sure that these students are completing their degrees on time, and make sure that students stay enrolled.

For decades, a common quick fix for a slow computer was to run a disk defrag on the hard drive. For most modern computers, however, this common practice can actually harm your computer. Let’s talk about why, and how you can tell.

Many businesses have already used the cloud to great success, but others might not even know where to start. The thing is, the cloud has so many features and potential solutions that organizations who don’t know where to start might be overwhelmed by the possibilities. Today, we’ll look at some specific benefits offered by cloud-hosted solutions and services.

These days, it seems that everything is migrating to the cloud. This approach has a lot of benefits, especially for the businesses that use these solutions on a regular basis. Let’s explore a few reasons why cloud computing has proven to be so beneficial.

For many years, there have been occupations and careers that are largely occupied by either males or females. These discrepancies have been declining, thanks in part to the greater adoption of technology solutions in businesses. As a result, today’s workforce has shown a greater level of inclusivity than has been demonstrated in the past.

Implementing technology solutions for your organization always comes with a risk, and if your business is blindsided by it, risk can derail productivity and get in the way of success. As a business owner, understanding this risk and planning for it is critical to your organization’s continued success. This week’s tip is dedicated to helping you identify risk and the role it should play in your decision making.

Business owners have a lot of trouble finding top talent--especially some that are limited by certain geographical factors. Rather than go all-in on finding the much-coveted full-time job, many professionals are instead opting to provide expertise as a service. This is essentially freelancing, and the number of workers who partake in this “gig economy” has increased substantially. It has quickly become the norm for a lot of organizations.