Businesses love one-size-fits-all solutions, especially when it comes to technology. Cookie cutter solutions are easy to budget around and easy to implement. However, there are some aspects of a company's technology that shouldn't be standardized, like server units.
Data security should be a top priority for every business. Having good security means identifying risks. Surprisingly, some of the biggest data risks come from within. If employees aren't following your organization's data management policies, then they're your biggest threats.
"Quick, to the emergency room!" These are dreaded words that nobody wants to hear. An emergency like this implies a life or death scenario, and it gets everybody worked up into a frenzy. After arriving to the ER and getting a doctor's diagnosis, how quickly do people's attitudes change when the emergency turns out to be false?
It's the nature of technology to take a while for the market to fully appreciate it. After it's released, there's an implementation phase where the benefits are weighed against the risks. This phase is usually a slow one, but if the technology is good, then its acceptance will be widespread and businesses will have to give excuses on why they're not using it.
With more businesses becoming aware of the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations, one would assume that a practice like printing would be on the decline due to how wasteful it is. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Despite advances in digital communication, paper consumption continues to increase by 20 percent each year in modern offices.
Data is the lifeblood of business. Therefore, IT workers who maintain business critical systems that "keep the blood pumping" are at the heart of every data-driven organization. Can your business live if an in-house IT worker took a vacation? Many employers think not. Statistics show IT workers have a difficult time "getting away from IT all."
There have been a lot of complaints against the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, and finally, another prominent service provider has spoken out against it. Dish Network has expressed their dismay over the cable juggernauts' union in a very long, in-depth petition aimed at convincing the Federal Communications Commission to shoot down the merger before it destroys cable provider competition.
The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The ancient Chinese military general Sun Tzu might have been around long before the Internet was a thing, but he sure knew how to make an impression on the world. In his extremely influential book on ancient Chinese warfare, The Art of War, he says that "every battle is won before it's ever fought." This applies to protecting your IT network, too.
Today, almost everybody has an Internet-connected camera in their pocket. A crazy amount of photos are posted online. In fact, Facebook alone claims to have over 250 billion photos, with 350 million user images posted every day. All of these pictures are fun, but how do you ensure that only the people you want to see your photos are seeing them?
You may have noticed last week that the Internet was having some trouble with its operating speeds, but now we know for sure why. The root of the problem lies in Tier 1's Internet routers' Border Gateway Protocol routing tables, which have exceeded their maximum size, and has brought about the failure of these routers to operate at maximum speed.
Picture this, you're at the airport with your laptop, knocking out an important project between flights. Suddenly, you're approached by some touristy-looking people about taking their picture. You're a nice person so you grant them their request. After a longer-than-expected photo session, you return to your seat only to find that your laptop has been stolen. You've been conned.
We all experience temporary mental lapses (also known as "brain farts"). The worst kind of brain flatulence is when the consequences stink up the workplace, causing downtime and loss of revenue. One of the worst places to let a brain fart rip is in the IT department.
A change is happening in the White House. Mikey Dickerson, a Google site reliability engineer, has just been appointed by the United States government as the deputy federal CIO, proving that even the big wigs need consulting from time-to-time.
In an attempt to push users toward the most recent installment of Internet Explorer (IE 11), Microsoft has announced that, as of January 2016, all older versions of Internet Explorer will reach their end-of-support date. This means discontinued patching and security update support, putting all who refuse the upgrade at risk.
We all know how annoying email can be at times. Your inbox is constantly being filled with new messages, and before you know it, you have no idea what you've responded to or what needs to be responded to. To make matters worse, the average office worker spends roughly two hours staring at their email inbox and responding to messages. Not only is this counterproductive, but is also a massive time-wasting practice.
A few months ago, we mentioned that a ransomware called CryptoLocker was spreading at a dangerous rate due to the GameOver Zeus malware. The ransomware would lock down files on victims' computers until a fee was paid, but not anymore. Now, with the help of FireEye and Fox-IT, a solution has been created called DecryptCryptoLocker.
Over the past few years, we've seen a revolution in the computer market as mobile device sales skyrocketed and PC sales slumped. If this trend were to continue for just a few more years, PCs would have possibly become extinct. However, as is the case with any trend, it appears things in the computer world may be normalizing.
Giving your team the opportunity to work from home can be tricky business. Who knows how distracted they can get without you around to keep them on track? Still, working remotely has its advantages, for both you and your employees - even if you feel disconnected from them.
It doesn't have to be that way, though. By taking certain steps and measures, you'll feel like your out-of-office team is right in the office with you. Here are a couple of tricks you can use to bring your remote employees into your office... remotely!
What are managed IT services all about? You've heard about how businesses are saving on their IT costs by outsourcing their technology needs, but how does this service work? The money-saving answer comes from this radical new approach to treating IT as a Service!
As a responsible business owner, you know that using the latest technology and running updated software is a key component to your company's network security. However, your employees may not value the latest tech like you do, which could result in a major data breach, despite your best efforts to keep your company current.
