Managed IT Services Blog

Just about everyone wishes they could get more done during their time spent at work. Of course, not many people willingly want to extend their workday to tackle the never-ending to-do list. So if working late or working on the weekends aren’t acceptable alternatives, then your only other option is to find ways to be more productive during the work day. Some people have spent thousands of dollars on productivity seminars and intricate systems to help them achieve more; however, not every business has that luxury. For those who need to make do without spending a lot of money, some relatively inexpensive and easy productivity hacks can help your Boston Business and your employees get more done.

For New England businesses, the confluence of process, innovation, technology, communication, and social mores is constantly shifting. While each area changes on an individual level, interconnections always exist between them, which further influences broader changes on a macro level. Understanding those interactions in ways that inspire and enable you to improve your business and your business dealings is at the heart of these 5 TED Talks.

While most everyone in the digital era is aware of malware, this term covers a number of different threats, but the one attack method that is leading the pack today is ransomware. Ransomware attacks quadrupled in 2016 and will double again in 2017, according to a report issued by Beazley, a provider of data breach response insurance. It’s now the most profitable type of malware attack in history.

According to the Salesforce 2016 Connected Small Business Report, more than 80 percent of small businesses do not have an IT staff, and 72 percent of small business owners are responsible for purchasing technology for their businesses. It is the combination of these two statistics that are of concern to Boston SMBs. To develop a sound IT strategy, Boston SMBs should consider these essential questions.

When people receive poor customer service, they may choose to no longer do business with that company. In fact, research indicates that more than 67 percent of people switch to another business as a result of poor customer service. Indeed, the pressure is on these departments to get things right. 

There are many resources that lend themselves to the success of a small business. There are the people who do the things, computers and networking infrastructure, creative marketing initiatives, and a strong sales team. However, all of these resources rely on certain tools to get their jobs done. Those tools are the IT applications that they use day in and day out. While certain industries may rely on specific solutions, there are some that every small-business IT department needs to have in place in order to stay competitive these days.

According to a research report from global staffing and workforce solutions advisor SIA, IT employment in the US has increased more than 36 percent, compared to a 7.5 percent increase for total employment, over the last 15 years. That’s far from surprising in the digital economy in which every business now operates. To meet the needs of the various sectors, today’s IT specialists must be well-versed in providing the latest technology hardware, software, and platform implementations via comprehensive IT certifications. 

PowerShell is a powerful tool for administrators in an Office 365 migration, as it can simplify the process in many ways. This automation platform and scripting language for Windows and Windows Server that allows you to simplify the management of your systems harnesses the power of .NET Framework. Because there are numerous nuanced aspects to migration, it's beneficial to have a guide to using PowerShell that briefly explores the staged migration process.

The recent Bloomberg News article detailing the failure of the Delta Airlines worldwide computer network is just one of many examples of how legacy technology can bring major costs. With hundreds of flights disrupted due to power and computer system failures, the airline was looking at a 10 percent reduction in 2016 3Q earnings.

This is an all-too-common occurrence for the biggest and the smallest businesses. Primarily because it becomes difficult to see impending challenges from legacy technology even as some systems are upgraded.

The recent Amazon Web Services outage that took out huge swaths of the Internet a couple of weeks ago has been an eye opener for companies who rely heavily on the cloud. If you ever hope to avoid a similar multi-hour downtime in the future, it would help to pay attention to the crucial lessons we’ve learned from that incident.