MSPNetworks Blog

The way you invest your business’ IT budget will have a considerable impact on how it performs. If your technology dollars are well spent you should see improvement year-over-year. Technology improves time management and allows for more automation than ever, not to mention the cost savings you see as a result. Let’s briefly discuss the IT budgeting process and how to build budgeting priorities that work.

IT Spending has to Improve Your Business

When determining an IT budget, how your business is doing and where it is on your timelines dictates how aggressive you can be. It can be tempting to view your IT as just another cost of doing business, but it really is more than that. Your technology (and the state it is in) has an effect on your whole business. If it is lacking to address the operational (and technological) issues that your business has, little good can come of it. Employee morale will suffer, your productivity will slow, and over time, the degraded IT that your company uses may just become a metaphor for your business. 

 There are the costs associated with acquiring and subsequently upgrading your information technology, as well as training your staff to properly leverage these solutions. However, a good IT budget will also account for the odd inconveniences that will require some financial spending to resolve. Your IT budget is an investment. While some of it will be classified as a business expense, much of your spending will be into endeavors that help your business, either by increasing efficiency or reducing waste. Either way, your IT can be used to put your company in a better financial situation.

3 IT Budgeting Tips

If you’re unsure of how to proceed with budgeting your IT, we’ve compiled a short list of things you should (and should not) do during the process.

• Have a set budget for your IT - In order for your business to be able to utilize the caliber of technology it needs for success, you need to put forward the investment into those solutions.
• Invest in business enhancement - Whether you’re boosting your internal productivity or fortifying your business against threats that could keep you from conducting business as usual, your IT budget should be spent in ways that directly benefit your operations.
• Don’t be impulsive -. It is crucial that you go about investing in your IT strategically, directing funds to where they are needed and where they will help your business be more efficient and productive. 

We Can Help

The technicians at MSPNetworks can help you figure out how to best spend your allocated technology funds. We can help you target operational pain points and keep you on a reliable refresh schedule so that your business always has the IT it needs to succeed. Give us a call today at (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

For a business, technology solves a lot of problems. Covering operational pain points is what it does best, after all. Unfortunately, they come with their own pain points that have to be dealt with. In today’s blog, we’ll give you a list of common technology pain points a small business can have and how managed IT services go above and beyond to mitigate those problems. 

A Lack of IT Competency from the Top

One of the most familiar problems that businesses have with their technology is a complete lack of acumen when it comes to the decision makers of the business. It’s understandable that most business owners don’t have a strong IT background; that’s what they pay their IT staff for. The problem becomes when they don’t fully understand IT risks and how their IT strategy, systems, and support need to evolve as those risks evolve. 

To get management and IT on the same page there needs to be an open line of communication and an IT team staffed with people that can competently (and proactively) bring potential problems to light so that they can be confronted. The worst-case scenario is an IT team that acts independently without proper communication as it can lose the confidence of decision-makers and make an already difficult situation untenable. 

Setting Up Lines of Communication 

In today’s business environment, it isn’t always easy to get people on the same page. Sure, there are now a lot of options in which to do so, and that is half the problem. For a business to be successful there needs to be clear paths of communication from management to every level of the business, from the staff and the customers, and from the customers back to the business. This can be a challenge to set up and maintain, especially with app fatigue becoming a real issue. 

One of the best ways to circumvent bottlenecks in communication is to start with a strong management software with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities. Many industries have their own type of management software that not only gives clear lines of communication to all levels of a business, but can also work to automate a lot of the things that could hinder those lines of communication.

On top of that, every business needs to roll out a series of reliable communication tools, such as video conferencing with integrated Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), some type of direct messaging platform, and for businesses that rely on collaboration to churn out work, a dedicated collaboration platform that provides useful communication strategies designed to move business forward faster. 

Too Much to Do

Since IT is such a big deal in modern business, it may just be that there is simply too much on your IT team’s plate and they simply cannot possibly get everything they want to get done (or that you want them to get done) in the timelines needed. Since every department in the business relies on the IT team to keep their technology working optimally, it can be a major challenge for IT technicians and administrators to handle every request in the time demanded by your staff. 

There are a couple of solutions to this problem. One is to have a platform in place so that people can see exactly what tasks the IT team is scheduled with. This is an option in most central management programs and can go a long way toward helping decision makers and other staff understand just how much is being asked of their IT team.

Another great solution is to hire an outsourced IT team to handle projects or standard management and have your IT team focus on the other. This co-managed approach to IT support can really be beneficial as it provides your business with the expertise it needs to get all your technology demands covered, while also costing substantially less than hiring more IT technicians. 

Security is a Constant Issue

If you are a consistent reader of this blog, you know just how important cybersecurity is to the sustainability of your business. There are more, and ever-evolving threats out there that need your attention. All it takes is one IT security vulnerability to put your business in a precarious position, so ensuring that your systems are patched and updated, and that your crew are trained and properly using strategies and tools that give them the best chance to protect your business’ computing systems, is extremely important. 

Most businesses operate under some type of compliance mandates and typically do what they can to keep them from being a pain in their side, but we can’t stress enough the role your staff plays in the protection of your IT systems (and ultimately your business). Having policies in place and available training is something that wasn’t too commonplace for years, but today it is essential to keep your employees and your businesses' computing systems and data secure. 

At MSPNetworks, we can help your organization get the technology, comprehensive support, and the policymaking acumen you need to keep your business safe and your IT pain points from rearing their head too often. Give us a call today at (516) 403-9001 to learn just how useful our team of IT professionals can be for your business.

We’re always talking about boosting productivity and the role your technology has in that quest. What we don’t always talk about is how boosting innovation can help free up your employees to produce better results. It’s the same technology, and it can have multiple benefits. In this week’s blog, we’ll discuss how focusing on how these two thoughts can be one and the same.

Managing a staff today is harder than ever. Not only do employees have more say over where they work and what they do than ever before, they also can do more work from more places today and expect their employer to understand this fact. This has led to some pretty tense moments over the past year as the world tries to find some semblance of “normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic changed business. 

Productivity the Metric, Starts with Productivity the Action

Productivity has long been the measure used to define workers, departments, businesses, and industry as a whole. The more productive people are the better everything is, at least that is what we are all told. There is some truth in this. Don’t you feel better when you get more done? Doesn’t sustained productivity make you “good” at something? 

When individuals inside your organization are more productive, it stands to reason that your whole organization will be more productive. Technology has been a large facilitator in increased productivity, of course, and it can help in many ways.

First, getting the right tools for the jobs that need to get done is a priority consideration. This starts on the administrative side of your business. Standardizing management tools can not only go a long way toward getting a more efficient business, it can do wonders for your organization’s productivity. One tool, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can bring a great deal of automation to your operations, your sales and marketing, and your overall relationship with your customers (it’s in the name).  The CRM works to automate a lot of the communication, time tracking, and customer interaction that you will have, making collaboration easier to muster and successful customer experiences much more likely. 

The less time your employees spend on the management of these relationships, the more they can focus on doing more revenue-generating activities; in essence, boosting productivity. In fact, the CRM, while probably the best tool a business can use to automate a lot of the back-and-forth that can bog down their workdays, is just one of many tools that are pushing business productivity forward. Today, there are productivity suites (again, in the name) that are cloud-based platforms that provide workers with the tools they need to be productive and the capabilities needed to collaborate in real time, 

Speaking of the cloud, many businesses—especially those that moved their operations offsite due to the pandemic—are now using cloud-based resources more than ever. Not only do cloud tools allow for anytime, anywhere access, they also allow businesses to cut their upfront capital computing costs (since they don’t have to buy the server and software licenses) and their maintenance costs (since the provider handles those). All-in-all the cloud is a great technology for smaller businesses that want to compete with enterprise businesses that have been leveraging the technology for over a decade.

Free Up Your Operations with Technology

Businesses are finding it difficult to innovate. With margins striking because of rising costs, smaller businesses need to get the most out of their staff. The best way to do this is through the use of technology. We established how businesses are able to use automated tools to be more productive, but it can also have a massive benefit on the quality of your offering. 

Consider how much time and effort your staff has to put into just adhering to the strict guidelines imposed on them on a day-to-day basis. Now consider if they were less inundated with minutiae and procedure and were able to communicate with a click of a button, manage their schedules and their client responsibilities in minutes and do all of that with more effectiveness. This seems like a win-win situation for your business, right? Here are three innovations to your business’ technology that you can use to free up your people:

• AI Chat Bot - Supporting your products is essential but it is short on revenue generation. For the small business where employees tend to wear a lot of hats, support can really cut into their ability to focus on their productivity tasks. Businesses of all sizes are starting to use tools featuring some type of artificial intelligence. One of these can take a giant load off of your employees’ shoulders. With AI technology powering an Internet-based support platform, your product and service support can continue to improve and provide the value your customers need, while also eliminating a lot of the time and effort expended by your employees.
• Internet of Things - Utility bills keep climbing and if they are handled manually there is a significant risk for you to spend more than you budget for. With IoT technology powering your HVAC systems, lighting, and more, you can significantly cut your utility costs and do it in an extremely affordable manner. Besides that, IoT can be leveraged in many other ways including inventory management and asset tracking, two parts of your business that are traditionally handled by employees. 
• Data Insights - One of the biggest challenges for a business is to correlate data in a way where you can get definitive answers to the issues you face. With today’s business analytics and business intelligence platforms, a company can use data in ways that would be literally impossible through traditional means. Your data can give you the answers to solve a lot of operational problems and through big data initiatives, your business can get smarter fast. 

At MSPNetworks, we pride ourselves on helping New York businesses become the most profitable organizations they can be through the integration of technology and best practices. If you would like to learn more about how to utilize automation and more innovative technologies to cut costs, be more efficient, and improve your bottom line, give us a call today at (516) 403-9001.

It’s safe to say that businesses have had a difficult time lately. In addition to the issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have also had to deal with supply chain issues and other challenges related to their data. How does your company manage its mission-critical technology solutions?

Managed Services Can Provide Modern Businesses with a Reprieve

It’s not much of our business, but we can’t help but wonder how you pay for your IT services. Depending on the business model, you might be paying in a way that is not sustainable over time. If you pay for your IT on a case-by-case basis, for example, you could very well be losing capital in the long term.

The issue with pay-as-you-go IT services is that there’s no motivation for the provider to solve issues in the long term.

If you think about it, you will never get the IT services you deserve from an organization whose business model relies on your failures. If you don’t need them at all, then they will go out of business—it’s as simple as that.

Managed services are designed to address this shortcoming. Instead of focusing on problems as they arise, managed services work to actively prevent and deter issues from becoming problems in the first place. It’s like changing the brakes on your car before they get worn down entirely, causing a crash that could total your vehicle. With a comprehensive managed services agreement, your technology can be maintained in a way that prevents catastrophe from striking in the first place.

This Predictability is Something that Today’s Businesses Need

In such uncertain times, the last thing you need is to worry about whether or not your technology will work tomorrow when you go to the office or remote into your desktop. This uncertainty can lead to many challenges when managing business technology.

By making the switch to managed IT services, you can make considerable strides toward making your technology management practices much easier and more predictable. It can give you more of an ability to budget for IT challenges, as issues that would normally incur severe costs will instead be covered by your managed services agreement.

MSPNetworks can help you take the next step toward taking back control of your IT budget. To learn more about how you can achieve this, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

It feels like streaming is everywhere these days, from video content to music to video games. Coincidentally, it also happens that innovations in cloud streaming have allowed these entertainment mediums to flourish in “as-a-service” type offerings. Just how have the innovations in technology allowed streaming services to grow and expand? Let’s investigate.

What is Streaming?

Remember the good old days when you couldn’t stream video without it being a massive time sink or spending loads of time waiting for the video to buffer? Gone are those days. Streaming is the continuous transmission of video or audio content over the Internet. It’s what powers services like YouTube, Spotify, and other music and video streaming services. Even some games can be streamed over the Internet now. Essentially, the data for these files are stored on a server somewhere, then get sent a little bit at a time to the user.

The Difference Between Downloading and Streaming

It used to be the case that you would have to download the entire file before you could use it on your PC, but streaming offers a better approach. Rather than saving a copy of the file to your hard drive, streaming allows users to simply play them from their web browser through an Internet connection.

All that said, a big difference between downloading and streaming is that, well, it requires an Internet connection. Without a good one, your connection will not be stable, creating problems for whatever you are trying to stream. For example, a video might need to buffer if your Internet connection cannot keep up with the rate of download. In a lot of ways, you can compare it to the way that many companies rely on the cloud for their computing. While it is great to have the content ready and available locally, sometimes accessing it through the Internet is easier and more efficient. However, without that connection, access is cut off.

The Technology

When you stream something from the Internet, the file is split into data packets containing video and audio. These data packets are essentially compressed files that are designed to be sent and unpacked at their destination. Ultimately, how the streaming provider goes about doing this is up to them, and it is largely based on the purpose of the streaming and what value it provides to their customers.

For example, when streaming video content from Netflix, the quality of the video and audio is a pretty big deal. In comparison, a video conference with multiple attendees might prioritize connection with others for real-time interaction over the quality of video and audio.

Two of the more common transfer protocols used by streaming services are user datagram protocol (UDP) and transmission control protocol (TCP). They are typically used for two different types of streaming. TCP provides a dedicated connection between the server and the client to ensure that all of the content is received properly. UDP, on the other hand, cuts some corners, so to speak. The result is that TCP makes for a more reliable connection compared to UDP, but UDP offers a faster and more efficient connection.

In the aforementioned example, you might see how the two can be used for two different purposes. TCP is better when the content delivered needs to be lossless, while UDP is better in situations when some loss is acceptable. In the end, streaming providers go with the option that allows them to provide the best services possible to their clients based on the goods and services they are rendering.

We hope you learned something interesting and new about the technology behind streaming services with today’s blog. What are some topics you would like to see us cover in the future? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

With Amazon’s annual Prime Day having come and gone, we can’t help but wonder how many of you bought consumer electronics while they were on sale through the web retailer. If you did, that’s amazing, and we’re glad you got what you’re looking for. However, we do want to strongly urge you to consider disposing of your old electronics in an environmentally conscious way.

Why is E-Waste Bad?

Consider how quickly we go through consumer electronics. How often do you replace your smartphone? If most adult humans in the world have a smartphone that they replace every couple of years, e-waste can accumulate remarkably fast. That’s without mentioning the countless laptops, desktop PCs, appliances, and so on that go bad or are replaced by newer, better, more modern technology that makes your life easier.

Even though there is markedly less spending on new electronics, and the supply chain has been significantly disrupted due to the ongoing pandemic, people are still going to buy new technology, leading them to discard their old. The problem is that these devices don’t get properly recycled; instead, they get shipped to landfills in third-world countries where they collect into massive mounds of electronic waste.

These devices are not cheap to produce, and they contain several valuable metals within their components, like gold, silver, copper, iron, and platinum, along with harmful chemicals that are horrible for the environment and the people who inhabit it, like mercury, lead, and cadmium.

Don’t Forget to Wipe, Either

It’s not just the e-waste that becomes a problem for businesses and users, either; it’s the data stored on these devices. Oftentimes, people will forget that these devices house immense amounts of data that could be valuable to others for the right price. You never know who could be rummaging through landfills trying to find working devices that they can then crack and sell to interested parties. To prevent this from happening, you must wipe all data from your devices before recycling them. In many cases, this means physically destroying the hard drive so it is unrecoverable entirely.

We Are Happy to Help!

If you are unsure of how to properly dispose of your old electronics, MSPNetworks can help point you in the right direction. We can help you wipe your company’s old devices so that they no longer contain sensitive user data on them, as well as locate a place that can and will recycle your devices so that they don’t wind up in an overcrowded landfill halfway across the world.

To learn more about how you can do your part for a safer, healthier, and cleaner environment, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

What does your IT budget look like for the remainder of this year? According to Gartner, your IT costs might be increasing. So, we ask you this: are you being intentional with your IT spending, and are you spending your business’ hard-earned revenue on technology which advances your organization’s ability to succeed? Let’s take a look at Gartner’s study to see what we can learn from patterns in IT expenses.

IT Expenses Projected to Rise

Gartner predicts that IT spending will increase globally by about 3 percent this year, totaling $4.5 trillion. While this growth is slower than that of 2021, it’s still significant in that the world is still experiencing issues with the supply chain and technology acquisitions as a result of the global pandemic and ongoing global conflicts. The bulk of this spending is being attributed to cloud services and data centers, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the trends over the past couple of years.

But Isn’t Technology Hard to Come By?

The big question is why there is so much spending occurring, something which John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner, is attributing to higher potential prices moving into the future. IT decision makers would rather commit to new technology now before it gets even more expensive in the near future. In a way, this makes sense, especially with many companies having issues acquiring technology. They would rather take preventative action now to prevent themselves from spending too much later by investing now.

Other notable numbers related to IT spending for the remainder of 2022 include the following:

• An increase in cloud spending of about 22.1%
• An increase in server spending of about 16.6%
• A decrease in PC sales of about 5%

Take Action with Managed Services

Businesses spend a lot of money on IT, but that doesn’t mean that you have to. Managed IT services give you access to more affordable technology management and maintenance options than ever before, and with MSPNetworks on your side, you can increase your bottom line while transforming capital costs into operational expenses.

To learn more about how we can help your business, reach out to MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001.

There are countless issues that could arise when it comes to managing and maintaining your technology, but the people who are in charge of the process should not be one of them. If you don’t have a dedicated IT team to take care of your business technology, you might not be properly maintaining your technology. Thankfully, there are ways to get around limited resources, and it might not be what you think.

Who Manages Your Technology?

As is often the case with businesses with limited resources, more employees wind up doing more tasks than they should be. Sometimes businesses expect their employees to have a baseline understanding of technology, but it is not necessarily the case. In fact, assuming this can be dangerous, and untrained employees should absolutely not be maintaining your technology solutions. Under the wrong circumstances, an untrained employee could cause irreparable harm to your infrastructure.

Plus, consider the fact that poorly functioning technology can get in the way of employees doing their jobs properly, reducing productivity and impacting your bottom line. Employees who don’t know any better will simply let the dysfunctional technology be, which is why it’s better to have professionals handle the maintenance on a regular basis.

One of the biggest hold-ups for businesses without internal IT resources is that they don’t have the budget to hire full-time technicians to take care of all their technology challenges. They might choose to address problems as they occur rather than before they occur, and this could impact operations in a negative way.

The conundrum is that companies need regular IT maintenance, but they can’t afford or access it. So what’s the solution? It’s actually pretty simple: managed IT services.

The Good News

Whether you have an in-house IT team or not, all businesses can gain access to the IT support they need to be successful in the business world, and it’s all thanks to outsourcing. Most maintenance and management of technology systems can be performed without the need for an on-site visit, so it doesn’t matter what your geographical location is. Plus, considering how affordable it is compared to adding more salaries to your budget, you’ll find that it saves you time and money.

MSPNetworks wants to be your go-to IT resource for all of your technology needs. To learn more about what we can do for your business, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

You’ve no doubt noticed that innovation is motoring ahead and a lot of businesses are now implementing technology to help build efficient, reliable processes to improve business operations and customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, many companies hang on to outdated methods for evaluating and implementing technology and it results in substantial lost value. Today, we will go through a few ways you can get the value your business needs from its technology decisions. 

Get a Tighter Grip on Your Tools

One of the biggest challenges for the constantly evolving company is getting the software in place that will allow you to maximize your staff’s talent and get the biggest bang for your buck. Unfortunately, software is difficult to manage. If you consider that you need dozens of pieces of software to run your business, you may find that, over time, you tend to waste money on it. If yours is like other companies—where major software decisions take some time—you’ll find it more valuable to focus on results. ‘

Think about it, you spend all this time and effort on creating an environment where your staff can be productive, only to waste capital on redundant programs and unused cloud accounts? That makes no sense. Most business’ employees have a pretty good idea of what they need to do their jobs successfully. Listen to them on this issue.

Additionally, the leaner your software deployments are, the more value you are going to see from them. This means eliminating redundancy: where you don’t pay for apps that do the same thing. You control your cloud costs. You don’t inundate your staff with app fatigue. By keeping it simple, while also getting your team the tools they need to be more productive, you can keep value high in your software investments. 

Scale Implementation

Too many businesses have people who decide they want to do something and just jump into it with both feet. That is the quickest way to throw dollars down the drain. You need to take your new technology implementations step-by-step. You need to first understand how the proposed investments are going to alter your business, good or bad. The best way to do this is to stay agile and to do that, you need to avoid bogging down your operational staff with beta tests of new software. You need to strategically seek out the people that can help you ease these solutions into the operational hum-drum of your business. 

Some new software is going to take some time to catch on, and the more prepared you are to implement end-to-end processes the more efficient your business is going to be when it is time to deploy new solutions. If you want to get the most value out of your new technology investments, you will want to consider how it will affect your business now and in the future. The best investments will give you a nice ROI fairly quickly if you roll them out when they are ready, not when you want them to be.

Always Have a Contingency

When making big technology investments, you need to rely heavily on your IT people, whether they are in-house technicians, or a managed IT service provider like MSPNetworks. Any IT professional worth his/her salt will demand that everything has a fallback plan. Implementations don’t always go smoothly, but with an agile approach, the deployment times can be faster and more conducive to bringing in substantial value. 

Having backup and recovery systems in place, as well as options that IT professionals can take to circumvent large delays in deployment can make all the difference when it comes to getting value out of your IT implementation. The more prepared you are when implementing innovative new technologies, the better your end result will be.

Deploying new technologies and building a more profitable business don’t have to be mutually exclusive strategies. Contact the IT professionals at MSPNetworks to get help getting your business’ IT where you need it to be. 

Remote work has been growing for years, but as it becomes more commonplace it becomes more difficult for business owners and managers to ascertain how engaged a remote employee is. This week, we thought we’d discuss a couple of ways that you can keep your remote employees engaged and productive. 

Engagement is More Than Production

The first thing you have to understand about remote employees is that most of them do better work faster from the comfort of their own homes than they do from an office. It’s just the fact that people take less time to do something productive when they don’t have to factor in all the other variables that come into play when they leave their house. 

Another thing that you have to understand is that a remote worker has much more to distract them from work than workers that work in an office. Which is why it may seem like they are a little less productive, even if they are meeting their key performance indicators (KPIs) and meeting their deadlines. 

This all translates to a very confusing situation. Let’s take a look at three tips that can help you keep your remote workers engaged.:

You Still Need Culture

Your company culture is more than the free coffee and donuts (or beer) you provide, it is the way that your business treats its employees. When building a team of remote workers this can be kind of pushed aside for more practical decision making, but it is still extremely important to keep your team as engaged as you want them to be. Shared goals and interests connect people and encourage better work and communication.

One tip that can help you keep building your company culture is to have some fun on your collaboration tool or instant messaging platform. If you set up a “just for fun” channel where your team can communicate, share stories, memes, jokes and more, you will see more engagement out of the team members that need that sort of thing while they work remotely. Another tip could be to set up optional meet-ups such as a happy hour or a virtual meeting at the end of the week so people can interact with team members they may not come into contact with in the execution of their work. The more “normal” you can make working from home, the more productive and comfortable your team will be. 

Get the Right Tools

Remote workers depend on the software you provide them, so it stands to reason that the most engaged remote workers will have access to software that makes this a priority. There are a wide range of different technologies available today that can create close working conditions for remote workers. Whether it's collaboration software, video conferencing, or simply just a well-tested instant messaging platform, your remote teams will be better off if they have access to tools that make collaboration easier and communication less of a chore. 

Provide Emotional Feedback and Support

One often overlooked part of working from home are the pressures that come from the home. Some people can handle them a lot better than others. Proper organization communication is the most effective way to keep remote employees engaged, while also helping managers have a substantial effect on their motivation and productivity. No matter where you work from, you want to know that the company you work for sees you as an individual and not just a number on the end of a VoIP channel.

You’ll want to maintain regular communication with your remote employees, provide timely and constructive feedback, give them goals to achieve and establish a level of trust that makes them want to be engaged and productive. 

Having remote employees may not always be easy, but the more it becomes commonplace, the more managers need to understand that it’s not the same as working from an office. If you would like to talk to one of our consultants about getting the technology your remote team needs to help build engagement and be as productive as they can, give MSPNetworks a call today at (516) 403-9001. 

For years, we’ve heard about how machines are coming for our jobs. We may even know some people who have been replaced by machines of some sort. This has given workers an overarching fear that once the machines are smart and capable enough to do what they do, that they will be out on their cans with few real options. This is mostly a fallacy. Today, we will explore the notion that machines are out for our jobs and how they may actually work to make our jobs better. 

The Correlation Between Automation and Downsizing

There is no secret that in order to run a business effectively you have to spend less than you take in. It seems like pretty simple math, but unless you’ve worked in management, you’d be surprised how little shifts in business make this possible sometimes. One regrettable way a company cuts their costs is to let their workers go. After all, payroll is still one of (if not the) largest expenses many businesses have. With new technologies being introduced that make it possible to replace the work of certain employees, it can cause some consternation and fear among the workforce. 

Some workers are going to lose their jobs due to automation, that much is true. Some people--mostly those who had jobs that computer-based machines can do much faster and much better--will be casualties of their business’ shift in strategy. A good manager will find the resource that does the job that’s needed more effectively, and in today’s business environment, many times these are AI-driven smart technologies. That’s not to say that smart technologies don’t offer other opportunities for some workers, however. 

Let’s take a brief look at one industry that is primed to be overtaken by automation: truck drivers. Today, several manufacturers are creating technologies designed to ship goods from one place to another using autonomous vehicles. This has been in the works for a while now, and it looks as if the technology is going to be a major disruptor in that industry. For decades, truckers were protected by unions, but as the unions started to lose their power, many became independent contractors. This leaves them no hope if the businesses they currently drive truck for start purchasing and using automated vehicles to move goods.

Furthermore, the aging truck driver may not have the skills necessary to compete for a similarly-paying job. The fear is that as technology becomes a disruptor in industries like this that the people that are cast out won’t have the resources to educate themselves for a new job; leaving those people to work lower-wage jobs, or worse yet, become dependent on the government. The business, which always wants to do more with less, can, but workers that are cast aside by this newfound efficiency become a cautionary tale. This is not ideal for anyone. 

Strange, But True

This us vs. them story is the way of business. Competition is said to make the market economy possible. What isn’t often mentioned is that automated systems don’t have to replace workers. They will to some degree, of course, but the lion’s share of workers can thrive with the use of automated systems; especially the ones that learn as they go. Why is this narrative not observed more? It’s simple, the story of a person whose job responsibilities change with the deployment of AI isn’t as interesting as a story about swaths of workers that are displaced by corporate greed. 

The truth is that many businesses will be using automation to make their employees’ work experiences better. There are a lot of procedural tasks that need to be completed, there are emails to be written and sent out, there are reports to be run. This is true whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a mom-and-pop pizzeria. The truth is that as it stands today there are a minimal amount of tasks that can (or should) be completed by smart tech. Automation can actually have an extremely positive impact on people’s ability to do work. It can allow businesses to cut costs while also providing a pathway to get their workers to focus completely on revenue-growing tasks. So the dichotomy between automation and the modern workforce doesn’t necessarily have to be disruptive, it can also be good for both the business and the worker. 

For the company that is making the choice about increasing the prevalence of automation over the next few years, their workforce will be at the forefront of this shift, not left behind like many have projected. Let’s go back to the automated trucks. Every automated truck so far has required there be a passenger (driver) in the truck at all times to ensure things go smoothly. These shipping professionals may not be driving the truck as they did in the past, but they are still employed and with the benefits that automation brings to the industry, they will still be paid in line with what they were making when they were the operator of the vehicle. Companies will save money on logistics, fuel costs, and more, but as of this writing there aren’t many plans to cut out these professionals, just alter the job a bit. 

What are your thoughts about automation and smart technology’s effect on the modern worker? Do you think that these smart systems will eventually replace the skilled labor fields, or do you think that people and machines can work in concert to provide better work environments and stabilize rising costs? Leave your thoughts about this issue in the comments section below. 

Running a business can be stressful, and if you can’t find time to juggle the countless variables that are at play every day of the week, you’ll quickly find yourself falling behind what needs to be done. Technology is one such area where falling behind is easy, especially when it comes to purchasing and implementing new tools. Unfortunately, your IT budget is not limitless, so how can you make the most of it? Let’s take a look.

Identify Inefficiencies

When you need to make your investments count, it can often be difficult to make large purchases without a little bit of reticence. You should first determine where your business could benefit from technology spending, then make implementing these solutions a priority. If you can address inefficiencies in your operations, you’ll be more likely to gain more from your technology and, thus, make the investment worthwhile.

For example, if you have ten employees and two of them have two displays, then these two employees are likely getting more work done than the rest of your employees. If you can invest in eight more monitors, then you can exponentially increase productivity for the entire crew, making the investment an excellent way to reduce inefficiencies. There are tons of other ways your business can use this principle to make the most of its technology budget—you just have to think a little outside the box and examine the baseline operations of your infrastructure.

Invest in Training

You can invest in technology, but you can also invest in something which is less likely to break down and require replacing eventually: training. If you purchase new technology or equipment, your employees will need to know how to use it. By ensuring that your employees are properly trained, they’ll be more likely to yield a return on investment for your new technology solutions.

What it really boils down to is that the better your employees are at doing their jobs, the more money they will save you in the long run. By training your employees, you are giving them access to knowledge and tools that will aid them while going about their duties. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Association of Talent Development, companies that invest in comprehensive training programs see 218 percent higher income than those that don’t.

Furthermore, today’s threat landscape is so advanced that your employees will need all the help they can get to avoid falling prey to a hacker or other advanced cyber threat. If you invest in security training now, you can save money by preventing security breaches in the future. Plus, it will help you maintain customer relations; nobody wants to work with a business that doesn’t take security seriously, after all.

Outsource

Outsourcing can be an effective way to take advantage of goods or services you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. It effectively gives you access to more for less, and it helps to control costs in the budgeting process. In particular, outsourcing technology services can be an effective way to keep your IT in proper working order. Through managed services like those provided by MSPNetworks, you can utilize all kinds of technology solutions that you might otherwise have difficulty implementing with limited resources at your disposal.

One common way that businesses outsource is with their cloud platform, but the cat isn’t out of the bag yet in regards to how much ROI you actually get from implementing it. Still, the fact that outsourcing gives you access to solutions you wouldn’t otherwise be able to manage is more than enough reason to consider it. Outsourcing your cloud, for example, gives you the ability to scale your services per user or per GB used, so you can still leverage the services according to your operational needs.

If you partner with a company like us, you can take advantage of several services designed to help your business thrive and gain value from technology. Here are some examples:

• Comprehensive backup and disaster recovery
• Remote monitoring and proactive management of all IT
• Best in New York technology procurement
• Dynamic cybersecurity tools
• Patch and licensing management
• Vendor management

And more. 

Even without a huge IT budget, your business can be successful and innovative. To learn more about how you can accomplish this, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

There is a microprocessor shortage influencing all kinds of businesses around the globe, and it’s only going to get worse following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine produces somewhere between 45 and 54 percent of the world’s semiconductor-grade neon, something which is absolutely crucial to the creation of microchips. The invasion has put a halt to neon-refinement companies Ingas and Cryoin, and as you can imagine, this puts a massive strain on an already struggling supply chain.

This suspension of production has led to even greater uncertainty over the worldwide production of microchips, something which is a huge problem. Smartphones and other devices are in high demand, especially thanks to the supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The past 18 months have seen major increases in both demand and prices for products such as computers, smartphones, cars, and more, all thanks to the decrease in availability of microprocessors. With two of the largest neon manufacturers out of operation, these problems are only going to get worse.

Fortunately, however, these major chip manufacturers keep a stockpile of neon, but it’s likely that this stockpile will be depleted as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict drags on. As such, it’s possible to see shortages in new microchip-run devices and products, and that’s not to mention the increase in price that the demand will cause. In an ironic twist, the Ukrainian neon market is a byproduct of Russian steel manufacturing, so it’s unlikely that the situation will be resolved before this conflict comes to an end.

Russian violence has affected the neon market in the past, like in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, a region which was part of Ukraine. This situation resulted in neon prices skyrocketing by 600 percent, and you can bet that consumers ate the costs that this increase produced.

While some large chip manufacturers have been able to make arrangements with distributors to acquire the necessary materials to continue production, smaller manufacturers will struggle to maintain operations if the conflict doesn’t come to an end. It’s possible that this neon shortage could have a significant global impact. Industries and governments could initiate their own neon production, but this production could take anywhere between 18-to-24 months to actually get off the ground, and that’s not even mentioning the massive price tag associated with it. Many are hoping that this conflict is a temporary one so they don’t have to resort to this.

This conflict and the resulting shortage has forced us to reexamine the way we procure technology, but rest assured that we will always work to help your business get the technology it needs to push ever-onward. To learn more about how we can help your business make the most out of its current and future technology acquisitions, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

It might be an understatement to suggest that things don’t always go smoothly in business. The truth is that when one problem is solved, another is often created. This is why we lean on our technology. These “solutions” are intended to fix many of the speedbumps, but that doesn’t mean that choosing, deploying, and supporting these systems don’t come with some problems as well. Today, we look at three reasons an IT project could fail. 

Failure to Align to Business Needs

Incorporating technology to make things more efficient is typically the goal, but in many instances, management and technology deployment aren’t working in concert. This can lead to IT projects that fail because of friction that is caused when there isn’t any unity in the direction things are going. In order for IT projects to work as designed, there needs to be some cohesion between planning and practice. 

A good strategy to avoid situations like this is to set ground rules about when a major IT project can start. Not only should any project have full clearance from decision-makers, but it should also include regular status updates to keep everyone abreast of any changes or delays that may happen. Typically, new IT deployment will result in some downtime, so having the blessing of everyone that could be affected is a good plan. 

Runaway Costs

Not every project is going to run smoothly. One could say that most projects deal with some inefficiencies and even redundancies that increase costs. Most major IT projects require substantial investment and if there is a lack of commitment it can cause projects to fall flat. Of course, many IT investments are earmarked when a budget is set and therefore can be subject to alteration due to other financial factors affecting the business. 

To avoid having the IT project tablecloth ripped out from under your china, you should be pragmatic about your IT investments. This means once you’ve decided to invest in something, complete it since most IT investments will end up providing quicker returns. Go full steam ahead or don’t go at all. 

Communication Issues

When we cite “communication problems,” we aren’t talking about problems with your data plans or email server, we are talking about keeping lines of communication open between all the people that have a stake in the project being a success. That means everyone: production workers, administrators, and everyone in between. Obviously, most projects are handled by the project manager and it is his/her responsibility to disseminate information as required. 

Today, there are some pretty impressive and easy-to-implement tools that will allow project managers the ability to quickly send correspondence to various people, create chats with teams of people involved in the project, quickly start video meetings, and more. The better equipped your project manager is to be an effective communicator, the more smooth a project will likely go.

Poor Project Management

That brings us to the last point, but it may be the most crucial. A solid project manager will do things that will make for successful IT projects. A good PM will manage the expectations of stakeholders, demands of the staff, and make it look easy. It’s not, but for some people being in the middle of a major project is exactly what they were built for. The good PM will not only understand the needs of the project team, the underlying problems that the project is trying to address, but also do it in a way where people who need information won’t have to go and search for it. A good project manager is a great delegator, a great prioritizer, and a great communicator. 

At MSPNetworks, we have plenty of experience running point on New York businesses’ IT projects and would love the opportunity to talk to you about your next IT project. For more information about anything IT support-related, give us a call today at (516) 403-9001.

Discarded electronics, including the hardware that so many businesses cycle through, are a big problem—and not one that we can ignore for a variety of reasons. Let’s explore the issues surrounding e-waste, as well as what can be done to reduce it.

First, let’s explore why e-waste is as big a problem as it is.

What is E-Waste?

“E-waste” is a blanket term that covers all electronics that have reached the end of their utilization and have thereby been discarded. Due to the materials that electronics are made of, these devices can lead to some serious issues down the line.

We really do mean all electronics, as well. With so much modern technology now relying on computing components in some way, shape, or form, you’d be hard-pressed to find something that didn’t qualify as e-waste. Naturally, computers and their peripherals qualify, but so do the majority of appliances, office equipment, and other gadgets nowadays. This is especially the case now that practically every gadget has some “smart” functionality built into it.

However, it is important to remember that a device does not have to be “smart” to be classified as e-waste. All electronics quality—which, in context, helps put the scope of the problem in clearer view.

According to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, 2019 saw 53.6 metric tons of e-waste generated. This marked an increase of 21 percent in a period of five years, with only 17.4 percent of this e-waste being recycled. The report that UNITAR released also shared other disturbing tidbits, like the fact that (conservatively) $57 billion worth of valuable materials like gold and silver were just dumped and/or burned.

E-waste is a serious issue. Not only is it wasteful, it is also highly damaging to the environment, as many of the materials involved either take centuries to properly break down, or are actively toxic. In some cases, both statements apply.

In no uncertain terms, this is not good.

People are Trying to Draw Attention to the Problem of E-Waste…

…and some of their ideas are pretty darn creative.

For instance, when the G7 Summit was going on at the Carbis Bay Hotel in Cornwall, it was done so under the watchful gaze of “Mount Recyclemore”---a sculpture created by sculptor Joe Rush as a message to the assembled leaders to keep the damage of unrecycled electronics in mind.

Mount Recyclemore depicted an alternative vision of Mount Rushmore, with the faces replaced with those of US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Japan's former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Germany's former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

All of whom were, at the time, attending the G7 Summit.

Constructed out of 20,000 pieces of e-waste in total, the seven figureheads each measure about 10 feet tall. Rush explained to the BBC that the idea behind the sculpture was to communicate to these leaders that e-waste was a problem they all needed to address, and that the message was for them to talk to one another about solving it.

The striking sculpture has since been moved to the Eden Project, a charity meant to educate people about environmental impacts and the different ways that they can be reduced.

Why Recycling Matters

There are a lot of benefits to your business choosing to recycle its old electronics, including:

• Reducing landfill space and protecting the environment, as the more that is recycled, the less that winds up in a landfill to have the dangerous materials inside seep into the ecosystem.
• Theoretically, it helps control pricing, because recycling old materials means that less needs to be produced from raw materials.
• Protects your data (although you should always remove your data before recycling your electronics) as proper channels are required to ensure that data is properly removed.

If you’re looking to dispose of your old technology—and if you’re looking for new equipment to replace it—turn to MSPNetworks. We’ll help you through the processes involved. Give us a call at (516) 403-9001 to get started.

The software you choose to use for your business largely defines the capabilities of it. When it comes to communications there are some very standard options that you probably already have and then there are some more innovative options that can have significant benefits for your staff. Let’s take a look at some of the standard communications options a business might use and how they can use technology to crank it up a bit.

Standard Communications Tools

Most businesses today give their employees multiple options on how to communicate with other members of the staff, prospects, and customers. Some are typical of every business, while others are a little more advanced and come with larger price tags. Some of the most utilized communications tools for business include:

• Email
• Telephone
• Instant messaging
• Documents

For most businesses, communications is split into two categories: Written and Verbal. Most businesses should have systems in place to cover both types of communication. As for written tools the most utilized, by far, is email. It presents you with an accepted and respected way to communicate with almost anyone that you would need to contact. 

Email

Today’s hosted email solutions tend to have a litany of great and useful features that can not only provide a construct to clearly get your message across, but also manage incoming and outgoing messages. Most modern business email platforms include the following features:

• Daily backup of emails
• Virus protection
• Encryption
• Spam filtering
• Synchronization
• Push mail
• Archival

These options typically provide users with everything they need to do business using email. Not only do modern email platforms have features to make the process of sending and managing email easier, many of them have started to integrate a fair amount of security features. A business’ email system is extremely important and a well-maintained and managed email system can go a long way toward giving an organization a great business tool.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is one of the more utilized written communications tools. Not every instant messaging application is created equal, that’s to be sure, but for the most part the convenience and speed of instant messaging can be a major benefit for any business looking to outfit themselves with one. Some hosted email platforms will come equipped with one, while other stand-alone IM platforms are also available. Recently, there has been a big shift in the development of collaboration tools that feature instant messaging as part of a larger platform designed to keep your people on the same page. 

Documentation

One often overlooked communication tool your business may have is the ability to provide employees and customers with written resources like pamphlets, white papers, and other documents. Most businesses today want their staff and customers to be as educated as possible and creating a repository of useful information, whether they are in the form of pamphlets, FAQs, or some other useful documents can save time and be very valuable. 

Telephone System

Probably the most important communications platform your company has is its telephone system. The traditional telephone system that you would get through a dedicated telephone provider has some functionality, but if you really want to make strides with your business’ communications platform, consider switching to a VoIP system. VoIP can be hosted onsite or in the cloud and can provide a lot of powerful features that the traditional telephone system simply cannot. 

One of the features you can buy through any VoIP provider is seamless video conferencing. For remote teams, or even extremely busy teams, a powerful video conferencing solution will give you access to a tool that will allow you to spin up meetings in seconds and provide you with integrated options in line with standalone video conferencing tools. This will help you save money and standardize the entire calling experience. Some other VoIP features you can take advantage of include:

• Automated attendant with advanced call management
• Caller ID
• Call queuing 
• Call following
• SMS and MMS integration
• Mobile device integration
• Analytics 

…And many more.

If your business needs help going over your communications options or if you simply need help getting the platforms you already have to function as you need them to, give the technicians at MSPNetworks a call today at (516) 403-9001. 

Last week we took a look at three of the most impressive phones on the market. Those phones all cost a pretty penny. Not that you will get a new smartphone for a song, but it’s just not feasible for most people to drop over a thousand bucks on a new smartphone. Most cellular carriers make it palatable by allowing people to finance the phones as a part of their monthly cellular service, but if you are looking for a strong device that comes in under $500, here are three good options.

Google Pixel 5a 5G

Google has re-established themselves as a player in the flagship smartphone space with their new Google Pixel 6-model phones with a new silicon offering, Tensor. Before they released that phone, however, they decided to release what is seemingly a copy of their last smartphone, the Pixel 4a, to act as their mid-range offering. The Pixel 5a, then, is that device. 

Built on an aluminum frame with a brushed aluminum back and Gorilla Glass 6 front, the Pixel 5a features a 6.34-inch 1,080 x 2,400 pixel OLED display. Instead of Google’s new Tensor chip, the 5a runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G with 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of onboard storage. These specs are almost identical to the Pixel 4a’s, but for a mid-range smartphone it has enough speed and capability to do about anything you need it to.

The camera setup is still extremely impressive—as it has been on every Pixel smartphone to date. The marriage of Google’s stock Android OS (now to Android 12) and the Pixel 5a’s 12.2 MP wide-angle lens and 16MP ultrawide angle lens takes some of the best pictures you can get on a mid-tier smartphone. The front-facing lens is a 8 MP wide-angle offering.

The biggest improvement Google has made over the Pixel 4a is in the battery. This time around the Pixel 5a, has a 4,680 mAh battery that features a 122 hour endurance rating and 18W fast charging. It also features a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and IP67 dust and water resistance. Available in only one color (mostly black) the Pixel 5a is available for $449 from the Google store. 

Google Pixel 5a
Body:  Aluminum frame, aluminum back, Gorilla Glass 3 front. 
Display: 6.34-inch OLED, 1,080 x 2,400 (~415 ppi)
OS: Android 11, Upgradable to Android 12
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
Memory: 6 GB RAM, 128 GB Storage
Expandable Memory: No
Cameras: Rear - 12.2 MP 27mm; 16 MP 119º; Front - 8 MP 24mm
Sounds: Stereo sound
Battery (battery endurance rating): 4,680 mAh (122 hours)
Security: Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
Miscellaneous: IP67 dust and water resistant
Other versions: n/a

Samsung Galaxy A71 5G

When breaking down Samsung’s A-series devices, it can get pretty confusing. For example, Samsung offers the Galaxy A72, which would rationally be an upgrade over last year’s A71, right? The thing is, that there is no 5G capability in the new A72. The only new mid-range model Samsung gave 5G capability this year was the A52s 5G, which in its own right is a great mid-range phone, but if all is equal the A71 5G brings the most value to the table at the current time. This is because they are very similar phones and the Galaxy A71 5G can be had for about a hundred bucks less.

The A71 5G is built on an aluminum frame with a plastic back and Gorilla Glass 3 on the front. Its 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display features a 1,080 x 2,400 resolution. The device runs on an Exynos 980 chipset and features 6 or 8 GB of RAM, depending on the model you choose. Both options come with 126 GB of onboard storage and a microSDXC slot for expandable storage. Out of the box it runs on Samsung’s One UI 3.0 operating system which is on top of Android 10, but upgrades to both have it running Android 11 and One UI 3.2.

One place where the A71 5G shows its value is in the camera. There are four rear-facing lenses: a 64 MP wide-angle lens, a 12 MP ultrawide lens, a 5 MP macro and a 5MP depth sensor. The front-facing camera is a 32 MP wide-angle lens. 

The Galaxy A71 5G is obviously 5G capable and comes with a better-than-average 4500 mAh battery and 25W fast charging. For security, the device has an optical in-display fingerprint sensor. Available in Prism Cube Black, Prism Cube Silver, and Prism Cube Blue, the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G can be found online for about $250-to-$350. 

Samsung Galaxy A71 5G
Body: Aluminum frame, plastic back, Gorilla Glass 3 front
Display: 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus, 1,050 x 2,400 (~393 ppi)
OS: Android 10, upgradeable to Android 11; One UI 3.0
Chipset: Exynos 980
Memory: 6-to-8 GB RAM; 128 GB onboard storage
Expandable Memory: microSDXC
Cameras: Rear - 64 MP 26mm; 12 MP 123º; 5 MP macro; 5 MP depth; Front - 32 MP 26mm 
Sounds: Stereo sound
Battery (battery endurance rating): 4,500 mAh (98  hours)
Security: In-display fingerprint sensor
Miscellaneous: 25W fast charging
Other versions: Samsung Galaxy A71; Samsung Galaxy A72 (2021)

Motorola Moto G Power

Motorola has long made solid Android devices and the 2022 version of the Motorola Moto G Power is no exception. Built on a hard plastic frame with a plastic back and glass front, the Moto G Power doesn’t have the build quality of the other two devices on this list, but what it lacks in that arena it makes up for in value. 

The Moto G Power features a 6.6-inch IPS LCD, 90 hertz display with 720 x 1,600 resolution. It runs Android 11 on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 chipset. It features 4 GB of RAM and either 64 GB or 128 GB of onboard storage. If these specs seem low, consider that for the price (around $200), you won’t get a better internal configuration for the money. 

The camera setup of the Moto G Power is simple but powerful with a 48 MP wide-angle camera and two 2 MP sensors for depth and macro resolution. The front-facing camera is an 8 MP wide-angle lens. 

The big value here is the battery. With a 5,000 mAh battery and 10W fast charging, the Moto G Power stands up to its name, giving users over 130 hours of endurance for under $200. It has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security and a water-repellent coating. Available in Flash Gray and Polar Silver, the Motorola G Power is an inexpensive phone that checks most of the boxes users are looking for. 

Motorola G Power
Body: Plastic frame, plastic back, glass front
Display: 6.6-inch IPS LCD; 720 x 1,600 (~270 ppi)
OS: Android 11
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 662
Memory: 4 GB RAM; 64-to-126 GB onboard storage
Expandable Memory: microSDXC
Cameras: Rear - 48 MP wide; 2 MP depth; 2MP macro; Front - 8 MP wide
Sounds: Stereo sound
Battery (battery endurance rating): 5,000 mAh (~130 hours)
Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
Miscellaneous: Water-repellent coating
Other versions: n/a

Other Considerations

When looking to get value from your next phone purchase, we’d be remiss not to mention that if you purchase an old flagship, you may get more value than purchasing a new phone outright. Sure, you may pay upwards of $500 for a flagship phone that is a year old, but it is literally half the price of purchasing a new one. 

You can also get a lot of value by buying this year’s flagship model that isn’t the top notch option. For example Apple’s iPhone 13 is much cheaper than the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 6 with their new Tensor chip is a venerable steal at only $599. Either way, finding value in your phone is not all that difficult if you don’t feel like paying over $1,000 (or an extra $50 a month in your monthly phone bill) for the latest and the greatest smartphone.

We’ll wrap up our annual smartphone series with a look at the foldable phones and new form factors that have the potential to change the way we work and play. Check back next week and don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

It's always important to maintain and manage the tools you use for work. Nowadays, this includes the software your business uses each day. Let's go over some tips for doing so properly.

Avoid Shadow IT

Without being provided the tools they need to complete their assigned tasks, your employees are likely going to seek out an alternative that allows them to do so. While their initiative might be admirable, the results can be quite regrettable. If software is added to your business' network without your awareness (and certainly without your approval), you have what is known as shadow IT. 

There are a litany of problems that shadow IT can contribute to, so it is best to keep it off your network entirely. The simplest way to do so is to simply ensure your team has all the tools they need to do their jobs, whether that entails a single software title or a full suite of business applications.

Carefully Manage Your Subscriptions 

Today, it's becoming rare to find business software that isn't offered as a subscription service. While this is a good option for long-term use cases, it can create a challenge if a certain software is only needed for a single project but the subscription is never canceled once the need for it has passed. This can quickly become expensive for a business, so we recommend that any organization using any subscription-based software titles regularly carries out an internal audit to weed out ones that are no longer needed.

Patch and Update Your Software

As threats are developed and mistakes are discovered in software, software developers will release updates and patches to resolve these deficits. This, however, is often where their responsibility ends—it is up to the user to actually apply these fixes, at the risk of opening up the business to a security threat.

This is another reason that many businesses now utilize Software-as-a-Service subscriptions. SaaS gives businesses the option to embrace a more cost-effective means of doing business. With the scalability that SaaS brings, a business can more precisely shape their subscriptions to fit their actual needs with the capability to change their preferences on the fly.

A good add-on to consider along with SaaS is a software management platform. With one, you can get a bird's eye view of your infrastructure and see what applications are actively being used.

Whatever your software needs may be, we can help you find the SaaS option that fits them. Find out more by calling (516) 403-9001 today.

Healthcare is one industry that consistently operates under an immense amount of pressure, and as such, professionals in the industry are always trying to find new and innovative ways to make things more manageable. The latest technology to aid in this trend is artificial intelligence, or AI, and it has proven to be a considerable asset for the industry. Here are some ways that AI has changed the way healthcare manages particularly stressful situations for the better.

AI Can Efficiently Analyze Vast Troves of Data

No matter how often (or not) you go to the doctor, chances are that your provider only has a fragmented version of your health records, the reason being that it relies on you manually updating them every time you go in for a checkup. Unfortunately, this lack of information can mean that your doctors don’t get the birds-eye view they need to provide the best care possible. AI makes sifting through data like this much easier and more practical, and machine-based predictions can catch things that the human eye might miss. AI could be used to predict health issues before they even appear, meaning that preventative care can be administered promptly (much like addressing issues on your IT network before they become major problems). 

AI Can Make New Medicines, Cheaper

When you consider the amount of time and research that goes into crafting effective medicines, you start to realize that there is a reason why it’s not cheap. However, through the same technology that allows automated self-driving cars, databases of molecular structures can be considered and tested through simulations. With this technology, time spent on research and development can be significantly reduced, as evidenced by the 2015 ebola virus outbreak, where analysis and treatment were developed far more quickly thanks to it. AI can also be used to study existing medicines or find new ways for them to be used. If new use cases for existing drugs can be identified, companies can save money and make their offerings more diverse.

AI Can Make Healthcare More Secure

Healthcare providers are responsible for storing and securing a lot of sensitive or personally identifiable information, as well as financial data. Considering that many patients’ lives depend on this data, it becomes incredibly important to keep it all secure, especially with the rise of cybercrime. It might be possible for humans to prevent some of these threats from coming to fruition, but it’s not possible for them to prevent all of them. AI might be able to aid them, though, by powering automated security solutions designed to keep records safe from malicious activity. After all, many threats are using AI themselves, so why not turn the tables on the attackers?

AI Can (Potentially) Help Eliminate Bias

There is an inherent bias in the healthcare industry with factors like race, gender, and ethnicity playing a part in how accessible healthcare is to some. This bias has seeped into research. AI programs can help to eliminate some of this bias, as it is separate from human deliberation and can remain impartial throughout the entire process. AI can effectively identify the objective truth and prevent factors like these from influencing research or access in healthcare.

What are your thoughts on using AI in this way, or in other practical parts of everyday life? Let us know in the comments.

Collaboration is important for many businesses and it is something that takes some time to master. In fact, a lot of businesses that do pretty well struggle when it comes to getting their project teams and operational staff to work together. Today, we thought we would take a look at technologies and strategies that will not only help collaboration, but can promise rises in productivity as well. 

Voice over Internet Protocol

It’s no secret that the telephone system is one of any business’ most crucial tools. What may be a secret, however, is that you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to get the comprehensive business telephone system you need. Most businesses that still use telephone services through a telephone company are missing out on an opportunity to significantly cut their communications costs while also gaining access to some of the very best collaborative tools a business can have. 

VoIP is a platform that uses your business’ Internet connection to fuel its telephone system. Not only does it provide the crystal-clear communication that customers and employees demand, it also provides options that no RJ11 cable can deliver. Services like video conferencing, text messaging, and mobile phone access make VoIP a much more valuable product than your typical business telephone service through the telephone company. With hundreds of additional features available, you can pick and choose the communications platform that is right for your needs and budget. 

Cloud-Hosted Collaboration Tools

One of the positive elements that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic is that since so many people worked (or are continuing to work) remotely that many businesses had to find a way to get their newly-remote employees the tools and resources they need(ed) to have a chance of success. A lot of businesses had moved some of their information systems to the cloud previously, of course, but the growth of cloud-hosted management software nearly tripled from March 2020 to today. 

There are several platforms that work for businesses. Some choose to go with services that allow for one-button video conferencing, while others lean heavily on the message board and instant messaging capabilities. Some just provide collaborative access inside working documents. Regardless of what platform a business uses, however, it should be noted that it is all in a concerted effort to build a collaborative workforce in a time when a lot of their human resources need remote access.

Today, a business can get about any type of computing they need in a cloud-hosted platform from some of the top business software developers on the market. Google, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and others can be used to the benefit of just about any business that is looking to expand their computing capabilities to the cloud to adapt to an increasingly-remote workforce.

Move Support Off Production Workers

For many businesses, the same people that create products and services are forced into support roles due to budget constraints. If you want your team to be on point and working collaboratively, having to juggle support issues could be negatively affecting their productivity. There are several ways that you can move support off of your employees. They include:

• A rotating support schedule - Instead of having support be a major distraction for your whole staff, consider assigning one or two workers to handle support calls and requests on a rotating schedule. Not only does this provide fairness, it also ensures that your product and service support is covered as it is a crucial part of your offering. 
• Hire new workers for support - If you have extra capital, hiring a support staff is one of the most effective ways to get returns out of a department that doesn’t bring in much in the way of revenue. 
• Use technology - Nowadays there are artificially-intelligent platforms that can be used to handle organizational support queries effectively and keeps the amount of human resources involved with support to a minimum. 

Collaboration is going to continue to be a key for a lot of businesses as purse strings tighten in the near future. Getting your team to work together improves your products, services, and your customers’ experience. If you would like to talk to one of our knowledgeable IT consultants about how to integrate the right technology to get your team working together more effectively, give us a call today at (516) 403-9001.