Suffolk Computer Consultants, Inc. Blog

So far, 2020 has been a bust, especially for businesses. The challenges that business owners have seen this year have been considerable to say the least: not only have there been economic and political tensions creating roadblocks, we’re now all dealing with the ramifications of an actual pandemic event. If any business is going to make it through all this, there needs to be a few shifts in how business technology is handled from this point on.

As technology has improved, the capacity for businesses to operate has risen along with it. In no place is it clearer than in today’s collaboration solutions and the utility they can now offer. Let’s examine what collaboration solutions are, and how they benefit the businesses that adopt them.

With so many businesses still relying on remote collaboration to keep their workers healthy and productive, video conferencing has become the norm. However, as this kind of communication has become more deeply incorporated into our lifestyles, new tendencies have arisen in how we communicate. Let’s delve into some of these developments.

While many people who were afforded the option have likely grown used to remote work at this point, that does not mean a business that adopts it can do so with complete impunity. One considerable issue that many remote workers have been experiencing is a sincere issue of overwork, believe it or not. Let’s examine why this is a problem, and how you can address it in your own business.

COVID-19 has most small businesses in the United States over a barrel. On the one hand, reopening too soon could help the virus resume its spread, waiting too long could put an organization’s entire future in jeopardy. Fortunately, with the right technology at their disposal, businesses have a better option.

Only a few months into the year, it has been made abundantly clear that 2020 will be considered one of the tougher years for business in recent memory. With a pandemic leading many, many businesses to scale back drastically (if not shut down outright), there are many things that are bound to change. To give your own the best chance of survival, there is perhaps no more appropriate time to consider a change over to a managed approach to IT services.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most remarkable situations that will happen in our lives. Unfortunately for businesses, mandated stay-at-home orders for non-essential workers have pushed a lot of the work that typically was done in the office to employees’ homes. This has necessitated many businesses to make a quick digital transformation.

COVID-19 has been pretty rough on the small business. Millions of businesses have either been forced to suspend or alter operations. Today, we wanted to point out that you may be distracted with a lot of things, but your business’ cybersecurity efforts need to be a priority.

The rise of the remote worker was happening long before the Novel Coronavirus outbreak made it necessary. People in all manners of positions were working remotely, and succeeding in doing so. Many organizations that have embraced the remote worker have seen noteworthy rises in productivity. In fact, many organizations have seen a lot of success using predominantly remote workers. 

Your business runs on technology of all types. That’s why it is so important to have knowledgeable and reliable IT technicians whose job is to keep that technology running effectively. Finding the right IT support for your company’s needs isn’t as straightforward as you may think. There are costs, reliability, and coverage variables to sort through and after those determinations are made, it is up to business owners and managers to ensure they are getting value from their choice in IT support. 

There has been a lot made about business network security over the past couple of years. One variable you often hear about is the danger that businesses face from the prevalence of employee-downloaded software on their network. This is what we call Shadow IT, and it can be a real problem. Conversely, under the right circumstances it can be a clear benefit too. Today, we’ll take a look at Shadow IT.

A quick Google search for “the most important thing for a company to be successful” kicks back a huge number of results - with answers ranging from “effective team management” to “sales skills” to “good decision making” to “strong relationships.” What do the vast majority of these answers have in common? They all rely on effective communications skills. Considering this, it seems prudent to encourage the kind of communication that nurtures success.

As a general rule, necessity dictates when a business upgrades the technology, they use each day. Sometimes it is because the tech they have been using can no longer support their needs, and sometimes, the solutions that are utilized simply aren’t efficient enough to keep up with operations any longer. New technologies may be adopted as a means to increase productivity, while others may actually be required by government-mandated regulations.

As a managed service provider, we realize that it may not be totally clear what it is that we do, exactly. To resolve this, we wanted to devote a blog to review what we provide to businesses like yours, and how our services can benefit you.

Businesses deal in relationships. They have to create a relationship with their clients and customers to keep them coming in the door, whether they are serving other business needs or consumer ones. Of course, it can be hard enough to manage all of the relationships in one’s personal life… how can one possibly add business relationships into the mix?

There are plenty of reasons - including employee satisfaction, productivity benefits, and cost savings, to boot - that many organizations have adopted BYOD (or Bring Your Own Device) policies. Having said that, it is important that you have a few guidelines and other policies firmly established concerning your employees’ secure use of their own devices… policies, such as:

In today’s day and age, it is effectively unheard of for a business not to rely on the Internet in some shape or form. This means that maintaining a well-functioning network is of increased importance for businesses of all sizes, which in turn will require you to make a few critical determinations. Here, we’ll examine some of the factors that may indicate your networking equipment is due for a refresh.

Regardless of what you do, it’s a good bet that your business creates a lot of data. Some of which is completely essential to its sustainability. In order to protect it against data loss and disaster, you will need data backup. Today’s best options leverage cloud computing to ensure redundancy and availability. Today, we’ll take a look at data backup and how choosing one that incorporates cloud services can actually save your business.

It wasn’t too long ago that in order for business technology to be fixed, or to undergo general maintenance, it either needed to be brought to a specialist’s location or for the specialist to come to yours. Nowadays, this isn’t so much the case. As we continue our blog series on the benefits offered by a managed service provider, let’s consider the support options available.

In business today, productivity is one of the most focused-upon metrics out there. One of the most effective ways for businesses to optimize their productivity is by taking advantage of some of the value that managed services provide. To kick off our blog series on how managed services can be a valuable addition to any business, we’re looking at how being proactive can protect this productivity.