Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

Depending on your business’ setup, you might have an in-house IT department that manages any of your technological assets, or you might have an outsourced vendor that you prefer to work with. Regardless, you know that as a business owner, you don’t have time to worry about managing IT--especially if you’re a small organization that has a limited budget and a limited workforce to do the work.

Cryptocurrency, most notably Bitcoin, has made the headlines in recent months with huge fluctuations in supposed value. While the topic of cryptocurrency is one that would take far more than a single blog post to discuss, we can examine the technology that allows these currencies to exist and posit what it could likely be used for in the near future.

In 2018 there are certain technologies most businesses have begun to embrace. Cloud computing, high-end network security, collaboration technologies, and some others have begun to be utilized by businesses, large and small, to build a more productive enterprise. Apart from these technologies, there are a few that every business person should know, if only to understand what is possible; and what is on the horizon for their company.

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is designed to showcase new technology and products to the world, with a focus on industry professionals and companies that want to showcase their latest projects. The show, which was held in Las Vegas in January, saw the introduction of many consumer products, but the ones that showed off new virtual and augmented reality capabilities made a considerable impact on attendees.

From the fun, to the fit, to the just plain weird, CES 2018 had quite a bit to show off. The Consumer Electronics Show is a chance for the technology industry to show off what they have to offer, for better or for worse. Today, we’ll go over some of the highlights that graced Las Vegas this year.

When a business utilizes any kind of technology, there will come a time when that technology needs to be replaced--which means that the business will need to be sure that any data on the old machines cannot be recovered. This, in turn, means that the machine’s hard drive must be destroyed. In order to be absolutely certain that this has been accomplished, it helps to lean on the guidelines established by HIPAA.

For the modern business, having a strategy to manage your employees smartphone use is essential. This is because most of the people that work for you have smartphones. One study shows that upwards of 90 percent of people under 30 own a smartphone. If you have any design on running a business, or employing millennials (who are the largest generation in the current workforce), you’ll need to know what you are doing to protect your business from the increasing amount of threats that are out there targeting smartphones.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There are times that hackers can’t interfere with data, and then there are times that hackers really can’t interfere with data. CERN, the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research) maintains far too powerful of a computer grid to risk it falling into the control of hackers. To protect it, CERN leverages the cutting edge of security to protect its European Laboratory for Particle Physics: artificial intelligence.

Have you checked your Google Calendar recently? Google has given the app quite the polish, both visually and functionally--particularly for those who use its business-grade G Suite for maximum productivity. How will you use this revamped version of Google Calendar for your organization? Let’s find out!

The businesses of today rely on technology in order to function, which means that their technology needs to be in top shape. However, this requires a sizable time commitment, something that most businesses will have trouble seeing through. Help comes for these businesses in the form of remote monitoring and management.

Running a business isn’t getting any cheaper--in fact, it’s only getting more expensive. This drives businesses to save as much as possible on operations and business-critical applications. One of the best ways to cut out unnecessary costs is to implement software solutions that spread-out costs over a span of time. You too can take advantage of the cloud to gain access to critical communication solutions.

As much as we personify the items in our life, we should remember that they are just that: items. However, technology has made it so that these items seem to be getting smarter through artificial intelligence. The first computer to play chess against a human opponent was introduced in 1956, and ever since, humanity has strived to make progress in the field of AI. In fact, AI is so valuable that even hackers are trying to take advantage of it.

Google’s Android line of smart devices have made their presence well-known in the business world. Google now offers a zero-touch enterprise solution for its Pixel-line mobile devices. The primary reason for this is that mobile devices are somewhat time-consuming to set up, especially on the business level. You can save time by pre-configuring these devices for your business to use using Pixel’s zero-touch solution.

Business continuity is an incredibly important part of running a business, but some smaller organizations underestimate just how crucial it is in the event of a disaster. Although FEMA estimates that more businesses are taking advantage of business continuity than ever before, not enough are. Business continuity is something that must be planned for, practiced consistently, and updated as needed. Does your business have a business continuity plan?

If the results of a Google search for ‘small business technology trends’ is any indication, artificial intelligence (AI) is not something that just concerns larger businesses and enterprises. Judging by the sheer number of articles that have been produced over the last several months, it is easy to see why a user might get the impression that SMBs who are not considering (or that aren’t already) investigating possible uses of AI are detrimental to their own success.