Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

While it’s impossible to catch a glimpse of the future, we can make some educated guesses as to what we think it’ll look like. On the business IT front, we can use trends and current events to look at what we can expect. This will help you plan out your technology-related efforts throughout the remainder of the year.

Last month, we touched on how Windows isn’t necessarily the standard in the home as in the modern office… and therefore, how many users may not necessarily be as familiar with the operating system as some might hope. In light of how vital familiarity with Windows is in the modern workplace, we wanted to share how Windows 11 works.

To continue this exploration, we wanted to take a closer look at the Start menu, which can be found on the toolbar.

Crises happen. Whether it’s a natural disaster, a cyberattack, or just plain human error, unexpected problems can throw your business off track. The best way to handle them? Be prepared. Let’s go over what a solid crisis plan looks like and how you can protect your business when things go sideways.

Technology touches nearly every facet of our lives. They make smart toothbrushes if you want it to touch every facet of yours. As a result of being such a tech-driven society, there were opportunities for businesses to set themselves apart by appealing to the incendiary demand for more. Today, we just wanted to point out that, while it has happened throughout the information age, today’s top tech companies are some of the most powerful ever. 

Windows PowerToys is a set of cool tools that can make your workday easier, if you know how to use them. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most useful ones for businesses and how you can put them to work.

Before we dive in, just a heads-up: these tools aren’t something you should install just anywhere. It’s always best to have a trusted IT professional handle software installations on business computers, whether that’s our team at Business Solutions & Software Group or another reliable provider. That way, everything is properly managed and documented.

Technology is a huge headache for small businesses, especially if you don’t have anyone solely responsible for managing and maintaining your network. Usually, a business has someone on staff who can address technology issues, questions, planning, implementation, and so on… but for small businesses, this is a big ask. This is why businesses often opt for a managed IT service provider, and while it’s convenient, it’s so much more than that too.

Texts might make it convenient to communicate, but they’re a common medium for hackers to exploit others. Why are texts so dangerous, and what can you do about them? That’s what we’re covering today, including how you can detect and avoid these threats.

After a decade of use, many PC users have grown pretty used to working with Windows 10… as one would expect after 10 years of consistency. However, everyone—business users in particular—needs to upgrade to the next iteration, Windows 11, as soon as possible.

Why? There’s one simple reason…

AI is popping up everywhere these days, and one place you've probably noticed it is at the top of Google search results. Google's AI-generated answers can sometimes be helpful, but they can also be misleading or just plain wrong, depending on where the info comes from. If you'd rather not deal with them, there are actually a few ways to turn them off.

What would you do if you ever lost your phone—or worse, it was stolen? Mobile devices play an important role in most modern-day workplaces, so you’d probably be in for a rough go of it. Data loss, privacy, and security are all risks when you lose access to a mobile device, and often the only way to address these issues is to simply wipe the device and hope for the best… until now, that is.

We understand that Windows, while standard in most businesses, isn’t always the operating system of choice for personal users. With many schools supplying Chromebooks and Macs to students, the number of young users unfamiliar with Windows will likely rise as time passes.

Regardless of your preference regarding personal devices, becoming as familiar as possible with what is available in your professional life is always best. It also never hurts to review these things, even if you’ve used Windows before. A lot has changed, and you may learn something new!

So, if you’re an Apple user and find yourself using Windows in the workplace, consider this your guided tour of how to use Microsoft’s longstanding operating system.

If you think cybercrime doesn’t affect you or your business, think again. It’s more real a threat than you probably realize, especially with how common data theft is these days. Today, we want to highlight some of the ways that data theft can affect you, even if your data hasn’t necessarily been stolen.

No business ever wants to suffer a data loss disaster, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not coming for you at some point during your operations. You have to be careful and take calculated steps to minimize the impact of such an incident. In particular, you want to avoid losing these three types of data, for it could make recovery all but impossible if you don’t.

Downtime is a business killer, and if you’re not actively monitoring your network to keep it to a minimum, you’re doing yourself and your business a disservice. Downtime can be defined as any time when your organization is not operating as it’s supposed to, and it must be controlled at all costs. Otherwise, you’ll run into the following three issues that are difficult to deal with.

Communications are a crucial part of every business, and today there are more options than ever. You have your telephone, email, messaging, and other forms of communication that, while valuable in their own right, may actually serve to complicate processes. In today’s blog, we briefly discuss the different parts of a business communications platform. 

Water is often used as a cooling agent for hardware solutions, including gaming PCs, data centers, and other powerful hardware systems. A business can use similar cooling methods for its entire building. In fact, Microsoft wants to implement a similar style of cooling for its data centers.

Whether you like it or not, 2025 could be a rough year, and not for the reasons you suspect. Businesses like yours might have a hard time with hardware acquisition, among other issues forecast by industry professionals. Today, we want to address some of the most significant issues on every industry insider’s mind.

Net neutrality has been a hotly debated issue for years, with regulations frequently changing based on political shifts. Recently, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) latest net neutrality policy, setting progress back significantly.

For years, the telephone has been one of the most tried-and-true business communications solutions, and that trend will continue into 2025. If you’re still using the phone solutions of the past, however, you’ve got some upgrading to do. Here’s what you need to know about the best communications investment you can make: Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Have you looked at the forecast lately? Not the weather forecast… the market forecast. You know, the one that shows that proposed tariffs could impact the market—including hardware costs—as early as February 2025.

You know what that means: it’s time to upgrade or purchase new hardware today before the price hikes make it impossible.