Macro Systems Blog

If you are a business owner that has been in business for a decade you’ve probably seen how emerging technologies have altered the face of business. Technologies such as cloud computing have created opportunities for many businesses to get the powerful computing infrastructures they need without enormous upfront costs. As this trend continues, the IT services have begun to move past core IT management and support and onto providing real solutions for the modern business. Let's take a look at how the Managed Service Provider (MSP) is at the forefront of a data revolution that has no end in sight.

Business owners: do you ever feel like you need to walk around on eggshells when it comes time to implement a new process or policy with your workers? Does it seem like your employees fight back tooth and nail when there is any technology alteration or IT restriction? You aren’t the only one who feels this way.

Regardless of what you assume, a bias is not an inherently negative thing. Still, if not considered rationally, a bias can lead you to make a business decision that does more bad than good. Researchers have studied why we hold the biases we do, and how we can overcome them.

The office is a workplace; it probably isn’t a place that is usually associated with fun and games. Neverless, different aspects of games have been shown to provide significant benefits when introduced into the professional environment. Let's explore some ways in which some fun activities could help your organization.

Vacations are an important part of maintaining one’s sanity, especially if you’re a business owner. However, unless you have a reliable staff that can handle the management of your business, chances are that you might feel like you can’t get away from the office long enough to relax. While it might seem tempting to disconnect yourself from the office entirely while on vacation, it’s actually better for your business if you don’t.

The ultimate goal of any business is to increase the volume of services it provides its clients in order to reap larger profits, as is likely the goal of your business as well. Perhaps you have been successful in attracting new clients, but if you wish to continue to experience such growth, then you’ll need to also attract quality employees.

With so much focus on how new technology improves productivity, it can be easy to overlook the other ways of enhancing operations. Sometimes, improving productivity can be as simple as rethinking the layout of your office. Or, you may find that your company’s current technologies may be hindering productivity more than they’re helping. The following three suggestions should help make your office a more productive place.

As the business owner, are you the only person in your office who manages your company’s vendor relationships? Chances are that this is a huge responsibility, and one that consumes a significant portion of your time. While communicating with vendors is important for resolving issues or learning more about the service offered, it’s still a pain that you shouldn’t have to deal with.

Unless you’re at the helm of a Fortune 500 company, it’s likely that you’re always on the lookout for new ways to save money by tweaking your company’s operations. When you’re in money-saving mode, you understand that even a small change can rack up a lot in savings. To help you in your quest to save money, consider implementing these four practices.

We have been very fortunate to assist many organizations, and this experience has given us a certain perspective of how many businesses approach their technology maintenance. We often work with new businesses to audit the performance of their IT. We’ve found that small businesses tend to have more issues and are susceptible to bigger vulnerabilities. These aren’t networks that go ignored either--many of them currently pay for an “expert” to support them.

Entrepreneurs enjoy an almost mythical standing in the business world as visionary leaders risking everything on an idea that, if successful, pays off in a big way. Yet, few understand the role of the intrapreneur; those who have equally big ideas, but operate in the context of established companies. Your business likely has dynamic intrapreneurs in your midst, but how do you make sure their voices are heard?

Internal communications are remarkably important for a business with multiple moving parts. In a world with many choices for communication, how does your company keep in touch? We’ve put together five great ways that your company can take advantage of today’s networking technology to create an infrastructure meant to help your employees stay connected to one another and promote organizational cooperation.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is nearly everywhere these days; as a result, potential security risks are also nearly everywhere. Your company needs to take the risks associated with the IoT into account and prepare accordingly.

IT project managers are an imperative part of any new technology initiative in your business; you should be looking for particular requirements when searching for a project manager for your latest project implementation. Listed below are some specific traits that your organization should look for in an IT project manager.

In homes and offices around the world, Technology has become nearly essentially, and one may find themselves replacing it more often than they expected. This leads to a significant amount of waste that can accumulate in your office; whether it's an extra smartphone, desktop, or something as simple as a random, non-functional hard drive. Disposing your dated, unnecessary technology isn’t as easy as placing paper into a recycling bin, however, and it shows in the amount of e-waste that infects the world every day.

One of the most revered NFL coaches in history, Vince Lombardi once said, “If you are five minutes early, you are already ten minutes late.” Although that wasn’t its intended use, this quotation can easily apply to technology. The tech industry is constantly changing, improving, and innovating. Adapting to changes is something all businesses must do to succeed.

How many emails does your organization receive every day? Chances are that you can’t find time in your day-to-day operations to maintain and manage your email solution as well as you’d like, and in a world where threats to your organization’s network lurk around every corner, you can never be too careful. How can you make sure that you’re taking proper care of your business’s email infrastructure, without sacrificing the time and manpower required to do so?

Seasoned business owners understand the value of working with professionally-trained teams. Due to the complexities and time constraints of running a business, there’s no way that one person can do everything, much less doing everything well. Therefore, it’s ideal to have a professional team dedicated to every aspect of your business, especially when it comes to IT.

Business owners primarily concentrate more on the digital effects of hacking rather than the physical side of it. After all, hacking some code through a network can’t harm you or anybody else in the real world, right? Wrong. As shown by a recent hack in Germany, ignoring network security can be a dangerous gambit.

We offer a handy IT service called vendor management. This is where we resolve technology issues on behalf of your business by coordinating with vendors to provide a fix, even if it lies outside the realms of our expertise. You may not realize it, but you actually use vendor management services for other everyday aspects of your life.