SMART Blog

Technology has forever changed the culture of some office environments, for better or worse. While we tend to err on the side of implementing IT as being worth the risk, it’s always best to go into implementing a new technology solution with the thought of not just how it will affect operations, but how it might influence your organization’s company culture. We’ll go into detail about ways that implementing a new IT solution might affect the way your staff interact with each other, as well as what you should look out for when implementing such solutions.

Your business is susceptible to countless threats and vulnerabilities, all of which aim to bring your organization crumbling to the ground. These include all types of technology-related problems that cause downtime and other terrible situations that your business has to overcome. Let’s look at some of the threats you face from day to day, and try to establish an appropriate response to each.

Databases are exceptionally useful for allowing access to important data, but they by default expose data to risks depending on how they are stored. If a database is stored in the cloud, for example, it could potentially be exposed to threats that put the future of your business in jeopardy. Compared to the public cloud, a private cloud database can give you more opportunities for security, flexibility, and customization.

Collaboration is critical to the success of your organization, and in a lot of ways, productivity can’t happen without it. Some modern collaboration tools have improved operations so much that they have completely changed the workplace dynamic, making meetings easier to manage, clients easier to communicate with, and managing in-house processes in a more efficient way. It’s no surprise that the right collaboration tools can help your organization overcome just about anything.

Artificial Intelligence is one technology that garners excitement and fear. People’s imaginations tend to run away with them when they have conversations about AI. Businesses of all types are starting to figure how they can utilize advanced artificial intelligence platforms and machine learning to facilitate better business, but is it working? Let’s take a look at how AI innovation is changing business and see how ready AI is for primetime.

Sometimes a business focuses too much on what they think they need without asking for the opinions of the ones actually responsible for utilizing it--the end user. Implementing a new technology solution in this way is like asking a client what their favorite ice cream is, then giving them the one you think it should be. In terms of your company’s IT, productivity can go a long way if you just take a moment to listen to your organization’s employees.

Cybersecurity is one of the most talked about problems facing the modern business. This is because cybercrime has increased precipitously while businesses have moved more of their processes onto the computer. Planning how to protect your business’ crucial digital resources from corruption and theft has never been more important. We’ll take a look at some of the problems we are seeing that are negatively affecting small and medium-sized businesses' ability to do business effectively.

Business continuity is one subject that not a lot of people know a lot about. This is largely because there isn’t a curriculum that presents a comprehensive outline on how to deal with disaster. This month, we’re going to share some continuity strategies that work, regardless of the situation, to get your business coordinated and back up and running fast following an unfortunate situation.

You may be surprised to find out that your business is constantly under threat of being hacked. For this reason it is extremely important that you have an idea of how to keep unwanted users out of your network and out of your applications. Passwords are often times the last (only) line of defense against all manners of threats. Therefore, you need to make them as secure as possible to mitigate the threat in any way you can. We’ll walk you through this process.

Small businesses with limited budgets and staffing have always had trouble managing and maintaining their technology solutions. Working with limited resources doesn’t have to be a challenge, but more often than not, technology creates problems for organizations that don’t have a dedicated IT support system. What if we told you that it didn’t have to be this way, and that accessible IT management is something that all businesses can achieve?

For many businesses, the struggle of how they keep in contact both internally and externally is very real. Some companies are still at the mercy of their telephone providers, which is far from the ideal approach to communications. Indeed, there is a better option for companies in need of a comprehensive telephony platform, and it’s Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP for short.

Data backup is one of the most important parts of maintaining a business, but it’s not something that some organizations even consider until it’s too late to undo the damage done. In any case, data backup is a critical part of any successful business, but it’s not as simple as implementing a solution and hoping it works. We’ll walk you through the proper steps for making sure your organization has a successful data backup solution when it’s needed most.

The world produces over 50 million tons of e-waste every year as consumers and businesses throw out their smartphones, computers, and appliances, less than 20 percent of which is properly recycled. The other 80 percent ends up in a landfill or broken down improperly. Today, we will talk about our growing e-waste problem and what industry professionals are doing to reduce it.

Innovation in the workplace has changed the way that operations have been handled over the years. These days, office technology innovation might seem like it’s hitting a lull compared to previous jumps, but there are still plenty of ways that it’s improving the quality and productivity of the workday. With the right tools, your business can improve its access to data and enhance its productivity in ways previously unseen.

In today’s age of mobile work, employees are taking data outside the safety of your infrastructure and using it to be productive. This comes with the unfortunate side-effect of the data being more at risk than ever before. Thankfully, modern technology provides solutions to this dilemma--chief among them being the virtual private network, or VPN.

Some parts of running your business’ infrastructure involve a lot of time… time that you simply don’t have in the day. Applying patches, monitoring network traffic, and updating software solutions are all the usual culprits. In light of this, we recommend that businesses implement a solution that allows for management to occur remotely, as it can provide a great benefit for businesses with both limited workforces and budgets.

If you don’t think that your business is under attack from the Internet, you’re likely to be running an organization that will be decimated by a cyberattack. If you want to avoid this scenario, you will have to be prepared to do what you can to keep it safe. This entails following some strict rules and being smart about where and when to deploy security checkpoints. We looked at what today’s cyberattack entails and what an organization needs to do in order to keep the threats that are bandying about from having a marked effect on your business.

There are countless threats out there that your business could fall victim to, but they generally all have one thing in common: more often than not, the user is a weak point in the defenses of your organization. We’ve put together a list of some of the most devastating hacks that your users should be aware of so they can best respond to them.

It’s not something that we as business owners like to think about, but the fact of the matter is that no technology you implement will last until the day you close up shop for business. To mitigate the costs of your technology failing, you need to take measures now, including proactive monitoring for the various signs of failure. Be on the lookout for the following.

Innovation takes many forms, whether it’s implementing automated solutions to ensure tasks get done or implementing new ways to get work done by your in-house staff. Collaboration is one of the ways that your business can benefit from innovation, as the right solutions can make a world of difference. We’ll discuss some of the more innovative collaboration solutions that you can implement for your business.