Decatur Computers Inc. Blog

Whether you like it or not, organizations are going to get hacked. It’s the cruel truth. There are just so many individuals and organizations looking to gain unauthorized access and siphon off data and money from businesses, that it is basically impossible to go long stretches of time to not have to confront it in some way. With the threat landscape what it is, companies now offer cyber insurance. Let’s take a quick look at cyber insurance and what you need to know about it.

Without sufficient communications within your business, you won’t be able to accomplish nearly as much as you potentially could with the proper systems in place. Let’s review a few tips that will help you to stretch your business’ collaboration that much farther.

Remember when you needed a wired connection between two endpoints in order to access important materials for your business? Thanks to wireless connectivity, businesses can now access online materials in a much easier fashion. The question then becomes, how does a wired connection improve your operations, and is it a benefit for your organization?

There are countless aspects of running a business that demand your attention on a daily basis, but one of the most important that can often go by the wayside is cybersecurity. No matter the size of your business, cybersecurity can make all the difference in preserving your organization’s future. While we recommend implementing technology solutions to make cybersecurity easier to manage, without an established culture of cybersecurity, your business will remain at risk regardless of the measure you take to protect it.

When you work from home for any length of time, you’ll come to understand that there are certain things that you need in order to get your job done. Depending on the type of work you do, you could need different tools. Today, let’s take a look at some of the most important tools your business can use to find success with a remote workforce. 

After 2020, it is understandable that many businesses would be seeking out a way to recoup a lot of the expenses and losses that the year’s events likely incurred upon them. This has led many to turn to their IT investments as the sacrificial lamb. While we are undeniably biased, we would argue that there are better ways to streamline your business’ expenses in terms of its IT than to simply cut them outright.

With nearly everyone facing a recession in 2021, businesses are going to be looking to technology to keep their businesses afloat. The COVID-19 pandemic made businesses shift their priorities in 2020 and as the pandemic enters year two, these strategies will be equally important in 2021. Let’s take a look at three trends you will see businesses follow this year. 

One of the biggest questions that was routinely asked to IT administrators before the COVID-19 pandemic shifted everything was, “How can we use the Internet of Things to Improve Your Business?” The answer isn’t as simple as you might think. Today, we will look at what benefits the Internet of Things can present to you and whether or not they can make a difference for the average small business.

We’ve come a long way since 1879 and the invention of the cash register. Today, point-of-sale (POS) solutions offer massive benefits to businesses who take advantage of their capabilities. Let’s go over how these capabilities can help the modern business and its owner.

All a business’ technology is important to its operations, but based on its industry, certain priorities are bound to arise. A recent survey cast a light on some of these priorities, giving us a view of what small to medium-sized businesses are concerning themselves with. Let’s review some of the trends this survey revealed to see how well your priorities match up.

Hope can be a big part of a person’s notion to start their own business. Needless to say that entrepreneurial hope doesn’t always consider that there will be a global pandemic that grinds the operational effectiveness that you’ve spent years building to a halt. Hope does, however, play a big part in the creation of a business continuity plan. Today, we’ll briefly discuss why you should never lose hope and how being prepared stems from the same notion as starting a business.

Spoiler alert: it isn’t good news.

On September 7th, 2017, it was made public that Equifax had suffered one of the largest cybersecurity breaches in history, and as a result, had left 145.5 million consumers in the United States vulnerable to identity theft. Due to a website application vulnerability, the personally identifiable information of these people was exposed from May until July of that year.

With so many businesses experiencing drastic changes with continued social distancing recommendations and suspended operations, it is important that one of the most critical groups associated with any business remains in the loop: its clients and customers. Therefore, it makes sense to do so using a tool that is readily available (and that most people use): social media.

If you have a bank account or a credit card, chances are you’ve been made aware of a hack or a data breach. Big organizations are more frequently being breached, forcing them to run damage control for the often millions of customers affected. News coverage often bashes these big organizations, but what about smaller ones? The truth is, smaller businesses are breached just as often, with the consequences being just as severe. 

Over 90 percent of people in the United States feel like their data is out of their control, and judging from the impression that the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation left on the world, it’s surely not going to be the last piece of privacy legislation that is issued. Still, will it be enough to urge certain governments and organizations to practice what they preach? The results could have long-lasting effects on businesses, as well.

Like a well-oiled machine, any business needs its internal components to line up correctly, interacting with the others to accomplish the ultimate goal of the device. This is more or less how we always describe collaborative processes in the context of your IT. Here, however, we’re going to focus our tip on ensuring these processes are directed by employees who are ready to collaborate as well.

Commerce has been fully embraced by the Internet, with online stores slowly phasing out many brick-and-mortar establishments. While you may not be in too much danger, depending on what you offer, you may also have the opportunity to leverage this trend in your favor. Below, we’ve outlined a few factors to help you decide if e-commerce is the right fit for you.

Identifying a qualified managed service provider can be challenging--especially if you don’t know what to look for. You should be able to gauge the worth of an IT provider based on a couple of key qualifications, just like you would if you were selecting an employee. What are some of the primary features that you want to look for in a managed service provider?

If the results of a Google search for ‘small business technology trends’ is any indication, artificial intelligence (AI) is not something that just concerns larger businesses and enterprises. Judging by the sheer number of articles that have been produced over the last several months, it is easy to see why a user might get the impression that SMBs who are not considering (or that aren’t already) investigating possible uses of AI are detrimental to their own success.

Technology has revolutionized business. However, along with all the advantages and benefits technology affords us, it comes with a few risks and vulnerabilities that some businesses are still struggling to come to terms with. For example, storing records electronically makes them easier to organize and locate when they’re needed. It also makes them vulnerable to hacker and cyber-attacks. Still, most SMBs are working toward mitigating risks as opposed to abandoning the use of technology in their business operations - and a current assessment of the situation does show improvement over past years.