Today, we’ll be discussing some of the best IT solutions for professional services.

Software as a Service
The cloud has brought about a revolution in the way professional service firms think about and manage their software applications. Software as a Service, or SaaS for short, is the delivery of software through the cloud for a monthly fee. SaaS is usually billed per user, and it includes solutions such as Office 365 and G Suite. Software developers have created solutions that can be deployed through the cloud, providing many industries with cloud-based software that is built specifically for their needs.

Mobile Solutions
Mobility can open up a lot of doors for any business. For a professional services firm, there is more to consider, though. Many of these professional service providers need to consider federal, state, and industry requirements that demand additional layers of security for sending and receiving data. Therefore, the benefit of adding mobility to an infrastructure needs to be approached with considerable caution, as data security must be prioritized.

One of the best solutions to this dilemma is a virtual private network, or VPN. A VPN provides a layer of encryption around your communications between mobile devices and the central network infrastructure for your organization. This added security protects data while it’s in transit. It’s also a great solution for a business that wants to limit its use of paper records in favor of a more digital solution.

Document Management
Having access to information gives professionals the ability to stay connected to clients and other resources as needed, whether they are in the office or not. A document management system is the ideal way to digitally store and access files in a database; and trust us when we say it is much easier to find a document in a database compared to digging it out of a filing cabinet.

Professional technicians can scan an organization’s paper files through the use of a special software to deposit them inside a database in the form of PDF files. This database and a Relational database management system give an end user the ability to search the DMS for keywords found in the documents. All of this is accessible to users through an Internet connection, making it both accessible and convenient.

Through combining DMS with a VPN and SaaS offerings, professional services companies can achieve unprecedented security and data access. To learn more about how your organization can take advantage of these tools, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Microsoft’s Dedication to Security

Microsoft has as good of a handle on the nature of cybersecurity as any other major software company. The sustainability of their business and the effectiveness of their products are dependent on it. If their security software didn’t work well, there is no way they could sustain their place as the world’s most important software company, right?

One problem they are running into is that their security is SO effective, that hackers had to shift the ways they tried to infiltrate networks and steal data. The establishment of phishing is a social engineering term for duping a victim into downloading software that’s only purpose is to gain access to their personal data, which leads to data and identity theft, and in the case of business computing, access to much more.

Businesses Have Trouble with Security

Today’s business has to deal with a lot of different security issues. First, they are responsible for having the technology protections connected to each part of their computing infrastructure. This can be as simple as having the router-supplied firewall and an antimalware program loaded on their server. It’s likely, however, that the average business will need more coverage over their network to secure it, and the data stored behind those security platforms.

Next, and maybe most crucially, it is the business’ responsibility to train its staff on what kind of issues to look out for. Today, most malware infections and other infiltrations are the result of a mistake made by a person that has credentials and access to data. If your organization doesn’t properly train your staff on how to eliminate these threats, there is a fair chance that your network will be inundated with some type of malware at some point.

Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance

Microsoft, acknowledging the need for an enterprise product that combines the power of their Windows 10 operating system, the productivity options presented from Office 365, and powerful security and compliance controls, has launched Microsoft Office 365. The cloud-based solution presents the core computing resources that any business could use in a product that is available right now from Coleman Technologies.

Our knowledgeable technicians can help you find the right security platform for any of your business’ computing needs. Call us today at (604) 513-9428.

1. Prioritize

One of the biggest time sinks to be found in any business is the simple act of deciding what to work on next. We’ve all been there at some point: having finished one task, we suddenly reference our to-do list and encounter the same problem as a kid has in a candy store… too many options.

Taking a few moments at the start of every day to organize these tasks can greatly improve how you spend your time throughout the rest of the day, and can ultimately lead to far less waffling later on. With a set process laid out, you no longer have to make the decision over what to work on next - it has already been made.

To create this order, look at everything you have to work on and establish how urgent each task is compared to the others. Deadlines are a handy way to help establish this, or if someone else in your organization needs it before they can continue their work. Identifying these qualities and ordering your tasks accordingly from the start is a small time investment, especially when you consider the impact it can have on your productivity later on. Utilizing a communications and collaboration solution can help you establish the organizational priority of each of your tasks with the help of your team.

2. Habitually Limit the Time You Spend on Rote Tasks

There are always those tasks that pop up throughout the day that seem insignificant at the time. Take checking your email, for example… how long does it take to do that? However, checking email and a variety of other tasks can quickly grow from a momentary activity to an extended process.

After all, there’s always the chance that briefly responding to an email could pull you into an extended and time-consuming debate.

Furthermore, some of these tasks carry the expectation that you will immediately drop what you’re doing to take care of whatever’s needed. Emails are notorious for communicating this urgency, whether or not it was intended. Regardless, it puts pressure on the employee to switch their focus, which hurts productivity.

Instead, establish a practice of setting a concrete period out of your day where you will check and respond to your email, or whatever task it is that applies to your situation. Actually schedule this time into your day, using the business management solution that your company has in place to control schedules. Outside of that time, leave that task alone… if an email’s contents are truly that important, you’ll find out about them some other way before long.

3. Delegation and Outsourcing

We get it, business matters and activities tend to be kept close to the chest. After all, if you can’t trust yourself to do something right, who can you trust? Who else has the incentive you do, to do the best job possible?

Frankly? Someone you’ve hired to do a job.

Delegation can be difficult, of course, but only if you don’t trust those around you. However, there are plenty of resources out there, both inside your business and available through outsourcing, that could do exactly the job that needs ro be done. As a result, you can divert your focus to tasks that need it more, trusting the resource to produce.

You may have to put in a bit of time picking the best resources, especially when outsourcing, but the results will be well worth the time.

Coleman Technologies can help you put these practices into action, with the added effects of the solutions that can be implemented to make these practices easier. Give us a call at (604) 513-9428 to further discuss any of the solutions we’ve described here, and for more handy tips that could help you better leverage your time, subscribe to our blog!.

If your business is still leveraging these titles, the clock is ticking. In order to avoid the considerable difficulties that losing support brings, you need to update your solutions very soon.

What Does SQL Server 2008 Do?

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 functions as a relational database management system (RDBMS), which means it is used to securely manage how a business’ data is stored, retrieved, and accessed. Not just a little data, either… a lot of data.

This only makes sense - why would you need a database in the first place, after all? Simple - to store a lot of data that you have (or expect to have), which also means you need a means of managing this data that is capable of integrating with the applications you use. An RDBMS can provide that means.

As SQL Server 2008 has been Microsoft’s database management software solution, and with Microsoft’s solutions supporting most of the world’s enterprise servers, this retirement has the potential to affect a lot of businesses. If yours has been utilizing either version of SQL Server 2008, you need to upgrade soon, or your business may be put in a tight spot.

The Progression of this EOL

As July 9 approaches, these versions of SQL Server 2008 draw closer to losing support. While mainstream support was actually ended in July of 2014, these solutions will finally be fully put to rest precisely five years later. Once this happens, any organization that did not upgrade would be vulnerable effectively immediately, at risk of security breaches and data loss. Furthermore, a business that experiences these issues then has to cope with the damage to its reputation, an after-effect that often leads the business’ failure.

What You Can Do

You have to work fast to upgrade your database management system. Coleman Technologies can help. We can introduce you to solutions that are far superior to the ones available in 2008, with improved integrations and intelligent systems. Sure, you could host a new RDBMS locally, but you could also leverage cloud-based database management, potentially bringing even greater speeds to your business.

Regardless of what you choose to replace it with, you need to ensure that your SQL Server is migrated by July 8, 2019. This is the only way to be sure that one of your business’ most crucial assets is protected by the adequate level of data protection and security. Again, we can help you equip your business for success. All you have to do is call us at (604) 513-9428.

Your Computer Can Make You Money?
Certainly you’ve heard of cryptocurrency, which is a type of currency that is “mined” from a computer. The most common cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is generated by computers that crunch through numbers. Some organizations have warehouses full of high-end servers that are constantly mining for Bitcoin. The average computer can’t really handle this task, but with enough of them, hackers can start to receive a considerable sum.

Why Is This Dangerous?
Cryptomining is dangerous particularly because of how intensive the process is. It can take a toll on the average device if it’s left unchecked. As previously stated, it takes an exceptionally powerful machine to effectively mine cryptocurrency. This causes the device to experience an abnormal amount of wear and tear. Over time, you’ll notice that your device will start to decrease in efficiency and slow down.

Other ways that this might affect a business is through the immediate costs associated with cryptomining affecting your hardware. You might notice an abnormally high electricity bill from a server being influenced by cryptomining, or a cloud-based service working too slowly. Either way, the end result is a negative effect for either your employees or your customers.

How You Can Protect Your Business
If you’re looking for cryptomining on your network, be sure to keep an eye out for suspicious network activity. Since the malware will be sending information over a connection, you’ll be able to identify suspicious activity during times when there shouldn’t be as much activity on your network. In this particular case, the data being sent is small, making it difficult to detect for businesses that transmit a lot of data.

Security professionals are turning toward machine learning to detect and eliminate cryptomining troubles on networks. Machine learning can analyze a network’s traffic for the telltale signs of cryptomining software. Another method is to use a SIEM solution that gives network administrators the power to discover consistent or repetitive issues from potential malware.

To keep your business safe from the looming threat of cryptojacking, you should implement measures to ensure all common methods of attack are covered, including spam, antivirus, content filters, and firewalls. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

One Account, Two Accounts, Three Accounts, Four…
Based on your work responsibilities and how your office is structured, it is quite possible that you need regular access to multiple email accounts. You could have one you use internally, one for communicating with clients, one to reach out to vendors, one to use to sign up for resources… you get the point. When all is said and done, that’s a lot of email messages.

However, you presumably have other work responsibilities beyond just checking your email, so switching between all of them just isn’t a practical option. Well, it just so happens that you won’t need to switch, as the email client you choose will be able to consolidate these multiple accounts for you. Before we get into how, we need to make sure that we’re speaking the same language here.

- An email account is the individual address used to send or receive a message. In your organization, you might have This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Likewise, each employee may have a different account for their different responsibilities - for instance, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

- An email client is the program that allows you to send and receive emails. Gmail and Microsoft Outlook are two perfect examples. If you have multiple clients stored on the same server, they can be used pretty much interchangeably, each client presenting all emails. An email client also has a few features that enable you to better keep track of multiple email accounts, provided you have set it up to do so.

Let’s go over your options now.

Multiple Inboxes
The people who developed the email clients that we use weren’t naive. They understood that a given user isn’t going to be tied down to a single email provider, and certainly not a single account. This is why email clients can support multiple inboxes, assuming they are configured correctly. Multiple inboxes allow a user to access a single client to manage multiple email accounts, streamlining the process greatly and enabling customized organization.

Multiple Email Personalities
On the other hand, some users don’t mind leveraging one inbox, but might still need to utilize more than one address in their correspondence. There is also a method that enables the use of a single, catch-all inbox, but enables the user to select which email address (in this case, known as personalities) their response is sent from.

To do so, you will first need to set up an email account that you do not give out, as it will serve as the catch-all address that all of your emails ultimately accumulate within. Once it has been set up, you need to set all of your other accounts to forward their contents to that mailbox - your internal IT resource should be able to help.

Once your messages are all being sent to the catch-all account, you will be able to respond to these emails from the address that they were originally sent to.

Setting Up Inboxes and Personalities
In order to accomplish either of these tasks for your client of choice, you will need to adjust a few settings.

Gmail
To add another account to your Gmail client, you’ll need to access your Settings, which means you have to click on the gear icon. Once you’re in your Settings, you should see a tab labeled Accounts and Import. Under that tab, there is a Check mail from other accounts section. Click on Add a mail account, and follow the instructions provided.

To add additional personalities to your Gmail account, you’ll need to again navigate to the Accounts and Import tab. There, you will find a section labeled Send Mail As, with the option to Add another email address. This will also allow you to choose your default email address.

Outlook
As it happens, there are too many different versions of Microsoft Outlook and too many variables to allow us to provide a walk-through. Fortunately, Microsoft does offer some documentation that instructs users how to manage their "connected accounts.” Of course, you can also call (604) 513-9428 for our assistance, as well.

Are there any solutions that you frequently use that you’d like some extra tips for? Tell us which ones in the comments section, and don’t forget to subscribe!

3D Displays
Remember that craze with the 3D movies? Manufacturers have been trying to keep people excited about 3D technology for a long time, but it has met with little long-term success. Content creators simply can’t commit to a 3D capture or post production process. A significant lack of content, combined with consumers needing a silly pair of 3D glasses and the hardware required by the display, people just preferred to stick to what had been working in the past. High-definition displays can make 2D programming look astounding, and with such a small demand for 3D picture, the technology has been abandoned.

There have been talks about resurrecting the technology through what’s called Home3D. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) has found a way to emulate the 3D experience without the embarrassing glasses, but without content made for 3D, you shouldn’t expect to see too much support for this technology anytime soon.

Smart Glasses
Smart glasses, like Google Glass, used to be a hot commodity, but they fell off everyone’s radar relatively quickly. While they initially were quite anticipated, there are very few smart glasses manufacturers left today. In 2012, Google Glass was being tested by several celebrities, but in today’s technology industry, there are maybe a handful of smart glasses manufacturers at the most. These companies still don’t have a clear idea of who would be the consumers for smart glasses, but they have learned that when it comes to this particular product, less is more.

One of the nails in the coffin for Google Glass was the invasion of privacy. While users might be able to come to terms with Google tracking what you say, buy, and do online, adding a camera to your glasses was simply too much for just about everyone. It was thought for a time that smart glasses could be a viable alternative to a smartphone, but the technologies behind the device simply haven’t been perfected to the point of proper implementation.

Virtual Reality
While virtual reality might be “available” today, people have been talking about it for upwards of 40 years. Other technologies being developed and discussed in the 1980s, like VHS and audio cassettes, have come and gone, but the idea of virtual reality lingers on. This is despite the fact that practical applications of VR are few and far between.

The primary use for virtual reality--gaming--has turned out to be a major failure so far. While there is some value in giving people the ability to share experiences online through VR, it hasn’t been a priority for developers, creating a similar situation to 3D technology. VR as a technology might not be completely dead in the water yet, but there isn’t much excitement out there for the technology--at least not to the point where it can be transformative (at this moment).

What are some of your favorite technologies that haven’t been as successful as you’d have liked them to be? Let us know in the comments.

Commercially available Internet services have been available since the early 1990s, but as broadband was being implemented, the Internet, and investment in the medium was strong. In an attempt to keep control of the Internet distributed among the people that utilize the service, and not massive corporations looking to gain control over it, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under chair Kathleen Abernathy adopted neutrality principles “to preserve and promote the vibrant and open character of the Internet as the telecommunications marketplace enters the broadband age” in 2005.

For seven years, lawmakers attempted to pass bills in Congress that would secure an open future for the Internet. All of these attempts failed, leaving the future of who would control the Internet up in the air. The fear was that ISPs, which are typically huge multinational conglomerates, would be able to control bandwidth with cost, as they do with their television services. Internet freedom advocates considered the price discrimination that would arise from “local monopolies enshrined in law” to be at the helm of what has proven to be the most remarkable invention in human history, counterproductive for the establishment of an open and useful construct.

Years of litigation followed. Cases such as Verizon Communications Inc. vs. FCC, which ruled that the FCC had no regulatory power over the Internet because it was, in fact, not actually a utility, and thus, governed under Title I of the Communications Act of 1934. Immediately after this ruling, the FCC took steps to reclassify Internet delivery services into a public utility, which are governed under Title II of the Act. In February of 2015, the classifications were officially challenged as voting members agreed that Internet services met the criteria of a utility under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 and the more recent Telecommunications Act of 1996. In April of 2015 “net neutrality” was upheld by officially declaring Internet services as a utility. The rules officially went into effect the following June.

The “final rule” turned out to be short lived, however. In April of 2017, the FCC proposed to repeal the policies that governed net neutrality, and return control to the corporations that invest in and provide broadband services. The proposed changes were met with heavy consternation, with over 20 million people providing comments during the public discourse phase of the process. It was later found that millions of the comments made in support of net neutrality repeal were made fraudulently by foreign actors. Despite the overwhelming dissention of the mass of people, the FCC repealed the net neutrality policies and followed it with a hefty amount of propaganda material claiming that the decision was “restoring Internet freedom”. The repeal became official in June of 2018.

What Is Going on with Net Neutrality Now?
Almost immediately after the change was made there have been several lawsuits filed and they seem to keep coming. States, advocacy groups, neutrality lobbies, and companies have all started lawsuits against the FCC both for their handling of the situation and for the repeal of net neutrality itself.

One way to ascertain if it has been a benefit is by looking at the claims the FCC made before dismantling the mandate:

1. Net Neutrality is hindering broadband investment. In 2018 what is known as the Big Four--Verizon, AT&T, Charter, and Comcast--collectively spent less in broadband projects than they did in 2017. It was the first time in three years that investment has dropped.
2. It doesn’t make sense for ISPs to throttle Internet traffic. The Big Four reportedly slowed internet traffic without telling customers not more than six weeks after the repeal. Sites like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime were the most targeted. Verizon was especially culpable as it was found to slow data speeds that led to slower EMS response times; a major problem as firefighters were battling massive fires in California.

The issue isn’t totally devoid of common ground, however. Almost everyone believes that ISPs shouldn’t be able to flex their muscles, so to speak. One way this is happening is that there is a push to restore older FCC mandates that prohibited ISPs to enact anticompetitive and harmful practices. Basically, everyone wants a fast, open, and unobstructed Internet, but the disagreement, usually on party lines, is who is responsible for the regulation.

An extreme majority of people support net neutrality. Most people want to return oversight over the Internet to the bureaucracy, as they believe that corporations whose stated purpose is to make profit aren’t the best organizations to manage something as important as access to the Internet, despite being the companies that sell that access. Time will tell who is right.

If you would like to do something about it, go to https://www.battleforthenet.com/ and sign up. Do you believe market forces will keep ISPs honest, and the Internet open? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Let’s face it, if your business operates anything like most do, you have far too many of these processes for anyone to reasonably remember. This means that making sure that your processes are both comprehensively recorded and accessible for your employees to reference is a crucial facet to your productivity.

Fortunately, doing so is relatively simple, as long as you go about it properly.

Step One: Identify What You’re Documenting
The important thing to remember about creating documentation is that, unless the task itself is incredibly granular, making the documentation too specific isn’t going to help anyone. On the flip side, any documentation that is too vague isn’t likely to provide anyone with the value that it should.

You need to store your documentation in a centralized place that all employees can access. It helps even more if there is a system in place to allow you to search the contents of each document, sort them in various ways, and highlight changes and edits made to processes. In other words, utilizing a document management system or a knowledge center of some kind will go a long way in preserving the functionality of your processes. There are plenty of tools and applications out there for this, and we can help you choose the best one for your situation based on your specific needs.

Step Two: DIARI (Do It And Record It)
This step will form the basic shape of your documentation, as it will create a step-by-step guide to completing the task as a whole. You’ll need to go through a run-through of the process you’re trying to document, recording every step you take.

Don’t be shy about including details, either. For instance, if your process will require the same questions to be asked each time it is put into action, include the list of questions in your documentation. If someone is supposed to be contacted specifically, identify them in your documentation and provide their contact information.

From here, you should have a pretty good handle on how the process typically goes down… and the insights to make it even better.

Step Three: Refine, Repeat, Revise
When you were running through your process, were there any steps that would have made more sense to do earlier so you could be better prepared for a later responsibility? Try rearranging the steps in your documentation and trying it again. Did it work better, or worse? Take these observations into account and act accordingly.

Really, once you commit the time to doing it properly, creating invaluable and useful documentation isn’t that difficult of a process. You can even bring multimedia into it, if it’s a good fit, using tools like Steps Recorder on Windows.

For more handy IT tips, make sure you subscribe to our blog!

What Am I Paying For?

If you utilize a managed service provider (MSP) who handles the maintenance and support of your IT infrastructure, it’s likely that you pay a flat monthly, quarterly, or yearly rate to cover the upkeep of your workstations, servers, and network infrastructure. This model has become increasingly common and it makes a lot of sense; it takes a decent amount of maintenance to keep a business network running smoothly, and when it’s handled proactively there are fewer issues in the long run.

One thing to note; we can’t account for every British Columbia provider, because everyone has their own way of quoting and billing for their IT service, but typically if you get a monthly flat-rate bill per user or per device then your IT company is providing some level of service on a regular basis. That may or may not be all-inclusive support for end users, cover hardware failures, etc. We’re not really here to nitpick the minutiae of an agreement though, what’s important is that you are getting what you pay for, and perhaps more importantly, that your IT is handled in a way that isn’t setting you up for failure down the road.

All that out of the way, when reviewing your regular technology bills, when you see that line item for maintenance and support, you might look back at how often your team had to call for support or put in a service ticket over the past several months. If your IT has been running smoothly the past few months, you probably have that one big question…

It’s the Pareto Principle

A little tangent here; but you know when it’s time to pay that homeowner’s insurance bill, and you think to yourself, “Man, I didn’t have to use this at all this year. I’d probably feel a little better writing this check if the insurance had to pay for a new roof or to recarpet my basement.” You are not alone, and that’s the same feeling you might get with good IT management.

Back on track, the Pareto Principle, more commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule, states that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. Basically, it’s an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure.

That’s exactly how IT works. If you set everything up right, configure it and document it well, and then carefully monitor it, you won’t be running back and forth to keep fixing it. It’s typically much more cost effective to manage and maintain your network than it is to set it and forget it, and only come back when something goes horribly wrong.

If your IT is running smoothly, and your users are productive, and your security is passing every audit with flying colors, then that ongoing management and maintenance is performing exactly how it is supposed to.

It’s not like insurance, where you continue to pay for the peace of mind that when something happens you are covered. Instead, you are paying to prevent something bad from happening in the first place.

We hope this helped explain how most managed IT bills work. If you have questions, or want to know how we can help keep your organizing running smoothly, don’t hesitate to reach out to (604) 513-9428.

What is Encryption?
Encryption is a security measure meant to thwart any would-be hackers from using your stolen data to further their ambitions. Think about it like this; without encryption, hackers would gain access to your files, plain as day. Encryption provides a measure that keeps hackers from using your organization’s data even if they were to gain access to it. It essentially scrambles data to everyone who doesn’t have the decryption key, rendering it useless.

One particular technology that uses encryption to a considerable degree is a virtual private network, or VPN. A VPN can connect your employees to your infrastructure regardless of their location in a secure way. Think of it like this; the connection between your employee’s device and your network is normally a clear tube that can be observed by anyone ambitious enough to look for it. Rather than leave it as is, encryption makes the tube opaque--enough to obscure what’s inside so it’s not quite clear for any unwanted onlookers.

Why is it Important?
You can imagine the immense importance of encryption in today’s data-oriented business world. If you’re not taking every measure possible to secure your data, you could be making a huge mistake. Encryption in particular is important for assuming the absolute worst. You can never know when your data will be stolen, so it’s best to take preventative measures to ensure that it will cause a minimal amount of damage should it occur. If your encrypted data is stolen, it will simply be unusable without spending far too much effort to get the data into a readable state.

Coleman Technologies can equip your business with encryption services that you can count on to keep your data as safe as can be. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

What Does Restarting the Computer Do?
You might think of restarting the computer as something that cuts down on productivity, but this is far from the truth. While it stops you from working in the interim, it’s beneficial in the long run to routinely restart your computer for periodic updates and general upkeep. Have you ever tried to run a machine all the time without giving it a break every now and then? When you do this, it’s more likely that the device will be run into the ground. Your devices will run much better if you restart them every now and then to ensure that they aren’t being overworked.

What Use Is There for Your Task Manager?
You can imagine the look on someone’s face when their computer freezes up and it can’t run properly. Well, once upon a time, someone had the brilliant idea to include a task manager in a computer’ operating system to ensure that you can identify the problematic application (if there is one) and end its tasks without having to restart the computer. Overall, it’s a way to see how your computer’s resources are being allocated, as well as how to end troublesome tasks without restarting the computer.

Why Must Passwords Be Changed?
While some might argue that passwords should only be reset when they are discovered, this in-turn highlights why passwords should be reset frequently. Sometimes passwords will be stolen without the user knowing about it until they are being used against them, but other times, they will be stolen and sold on the black market to the highest bidder. It’s up to the user to make sure any passwords potentially stolen are changed before they can be used against your organization. The best way to protect against this from happening is to assume they will be stolen and change them periodically.

How Do Drivers Affect Your Work?
Drivers can be considered pieces of software that make your device compatible with a variety of external devices. You might have noticed that drivers must be installed on your device in order to use that USB mouse or wireless keyboard. These drivers must be kept up to date so that compatibility with devices doesn’t interfere with your work, and that security vulnerabilities are not presented to nefarious folks who want access to your systems and data.

Do you have any tips that you’d like to share with us? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our blog.

A Rose by Any Other Name
Frankly, it’s pretty easy to observe that “busy” and “productive” are anything but synonymous. We all know those people who seem to be constantly running around, working on this or that. Are these people busy? Certainly. Are they actually accomplishing anything? Maybe, maybe not.

Look at it this way - you can be ‘busy’ doing anything. However, in order to be ‘productive,’ you need to actually produce something. It doesn’t matter if it’s a completed sales proposal, an email explaining away the confusion around a particularly convoluted subject, or… anything else, really, as long as it helps to advance the business’ goals.

The Inherent Issue in Comparing the Two
Unfortunately, much of our context for determining between busyness and productivity comes from the least objective source there is - our own perception.

Look at it this way: let’s say that you gave a research assignment to two employees, with a deadline of an hour. If you left, only to return and see one employee watching YouTube videos, and the other one typing away, who would you see as being the productive one? In the moment, you would probably say that it was the employee who was still typing, and not the one watching videos on the Internet. However, what if I told you that the employee watching videos was actually watching videos related to the task you had assigned, and the other was working on what would likely be their fourth unpublished novel? Or that the employee watching the videos had long since completed the assignment, and was taking a well-deserved break, while the employee who was still typing was only doing so because they had goofed off for much of the time you were away?

This illustrates two considerations: how much different productivity really is than pure busyness, as well as how similar they have the potential to be. In order to keep from fooling yourself into thinking you’re being productive when you’re really just looking busy, try asking yourself a few questions as you commence.

For example, you can take a look at how you spend your time, and compare it to what your responsibilities really are at their core.

For instance, let’s say that Bill’s job was to ensure that the company remained secure. If Bill was able to complete all of his day’s tasks in the morning, but then spent the rest of his day reading things online, what would that be considered? Well, that depends. If Bill was reading the latest Bowling Enthusiasts Weekly articles at his desk for the rest of the afternoon, that’s hardly productive. However, if Bill was researching improved cybersecurity practices to enact in the company... that’s a pretty productive way to spend the time.

A Few ‘Keeping Busy’ Red Flags
Of course, none of the following activities have to be time-wasters, they just happen to be in most situations, or require a very specific job responsibility to be considered productive. For instance, many job responsibilities don’t actually require the Internet to be used, so any time spent on it is arguably a waste. The same can be said of social media, and especially email.

Of course, there are also many exceptions to this rule. In essence, you have to use your best judgement, evaluating if a given activity is actually the best use of your time or not.

Don’t forget, Coleman Technologies has plenty of solutions to help you boost your productivity. Reach out to us at (604) 513-9428 to learn more!

Costs
A lot of business owners don’t realize that creating cloud platforms has been completely possible for a long time. It wasn’t until public cloud offerings like SaaS or IaaS were made available that the business world really turned an eye toward these virtualized computing constructs. The reason was, of course cost. As cost goes down, options get more viable. One problem that businesses that have jumped into public cloud computing with both feet have found is that they haven't properly accounted for the risk inherent in hosting their business’ data and infrastructure with someone else. These risks can significantly reduce (or in some cases decimate) the ROI of a cloud computing initiative.

One of the major risks, loss of data security, has driven many organizations toward a more private cloud strategy. Building a private cloud can be complicated as it involves calculating both fixed and recurring costs over a pertinent time frame. Since with a private cloud platform, an organization will be responsible for the hardware systems, management, and control, variables such as usage (forecasted/actual), system and data redundancy, and the general specifications of the machines used to run the virtualized infrastructure have to be taken into account.

So, while it’s true that public cloud costs are also difficult to determine, when settling in on a private cloud solution, you need to dot your i’s and cross your t’s at every turn to ensure that you are properly forecasting what the private cloud will cost your company in both migration and operation.

Integration
Chances are your business already uses several public cloud applications, and some of those applications function better, and more cost-effectively, if left there. You see, if you utilize public cloud resources to host non-critical infrastructure or applications, you will likely want to consider setting up a hybrid cloud system, where your private cloud and your public cloud resources are integrated.

This hybrid cloud platform will absolutely have its difficulties, but once it is up and running, your business’ computing will be accessible through one single access portal. If you so choose to reinforce this strategy with secure access control systems you can do that, but know that it requires a lot of effort to include security provisions and configurations to allow workloads to be run anywhere.

Time
One big problem many businesses have when deciding to move a portion of their IT out of the public cloud and into their own private cloud is just the time it will take to get this finished. These virtualized computing environments are more robust than ever and can facilitate a lot of organizational flexibility, but operational issues and hardware management of on-premise hardware is time consuming and costly.

Not only does your IT admin (and team) need time to configure and migrate all relevant data, they will be on the hook for all the maintenance and management of the virtual machines and the underlying hardware, making it problematic for small IT teams.

At Coleman Technologies, we know how important collaborative work environments are, we also know how crucial data security is. As a result, we are in a great position to help you. Our technicians can work with you to find the right balance between public and private cloud resources, while having the technical expertise to help manage and maintain any computing environment or infrastructure. If you would like more information about hosted solutions, whether they be on the web or in your server room, our technicians can help. Call us today at (604) 513-9428.

Google.com
There are few resources out there that are as valuable as Google’s website. Even the act of “googling” something has become a verb. Granted, “googling” a query might not yield the results the user is expecting, which can lead to frustration. By effectively using search commands, you can make any Google search more accurate, saving time better spent actually using the plethora of knowledge you have at your fingertips.

Tip #1: Use the Tabs
Google has built-in search functionality for images, videos, news, and so much more. There are tabs for images, news, videos, maps, shopping, books, flights, and finance. You can use each of these to narrow down the results you get when you make a specific query.

#2: Use Quotes
Even if you type in what you’re looking for, Google will sometimes misconstrue what you’re looking for as something else. If you’re looking for a specific phrase, you can use quotes around it to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Example: “happy days”

The results will be the term or phrase exactly as it’s typed.

#3: Use a Hyphen to Exclude Words
Think of the hyphen as the “minus” sign of Google searches. If you have a word that you’d rather omit from a search, place a hyphen in front of it.

Example: scale -weight

By removing the topic of one of the homonyms from the equation, you will get more targeted and accurate results.

#4: Use a Colon to Search Specific Sites
If you know that what you’re searching for is found on a specific website, you can limit the search to that site with a colon.

Example: Virtualization site:azure.microsoft.com

In the above example, you can also use a specific keyword to include it in your search.

#5: Search Locally
Google can determine your location, giving you a lot of power to find local businesses, restaurants, institutions, you name it. Just type it into Google.

Example: Laundromats nearby.

Just make sure you have your location services on if mobile. Otherwise, the search engine will use your Internet connection’s IP address to figure out what’s close to you.

What are some of your favorite ways to use Google? Let us know in the comments.

It Gets the Job Done
You can’t share information about your goods, services, or business if you can’t get the consumer’s attention. Digital signage has the potential to outperform other traditional media types to catch the viewer’s attention. If you don’t have enough room for all of the displays you want to share, digital signage might be able to help you better capture the message you want the viewer to walk away with.

It Makes Your Audience More Patient
If you find yourself at a loss for words, you can instead let the digital signage do the talking in certain cases. In other words, if you have a lot to get done but not a lot of time, you can use your digital signage to distract your audience long enough to enact what you need to accomplish. This is especially true in customer-facing establishments. After all, everyone appreciates something to look at while they’re waiting.

It’s More Affordable
Digital signage might require a significant up-front investment, but it saves you money in the long term thanks to its ability to change to anything you want your sign to say. There are minimal costs of upkeep related to digital signage, with the only real one being the occasional software update and the image it will display. You’ll save not just money, but spacial costs associated with the signs. Your solution will pay for itself in the long run.

You don’t even need a special display of any kind--just a simple television with the right inputs will work the way you need it to. If you’re looking to get started with digital signage, Coleman Technologies can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

When Should You “Recharge?”
A good rule to follow for unplugging yourself from the daily grind is whenever you find yourself to be either overwhelmed or exhausted from working too much or too hard. After all, no business professional can work as hard as possible for an extended period of time without taking a break. If you ever find yourself struggling to answer the question, “What is it all for?”, perhaps it’s time to take a break and unplug from the workplace for a little bit.

Here are three ways you can recharge your mental battery during a busy workday.

Get Out of the Office
Sometimes a breath of fresh air can go a long way. Some employees might skip lunch because they feel they are too busy to get all of their work done otherwise, but this can be a mistake. If you’re not taking a break every now and then, your ability to focus can be impaired. We recommend taking your lunch and using it to grab something to eat or get out of the office, whether it’s taking a walk down the road or going for a short drive. Try to separate yourself from the office during your breaks, even if it’s a little.

Exercise a Bit
If you think you are working a bit too hard, you can use something as basic as even a minor amount of exercise to get your blood pumping. Exercising can help improve focus and improve your health, so if it’s done regularly, you will be more comfortable in the workplace. Furthermore, you may find that you achieve better rest at the end of the day, sleeping more soundly while feeling stronger and more energetic as a whole.

Read More
There’s something inherently relaxing about reading a good book. Even if you’re not into reading, you might find that taking some time out of your day to read a story or learn something new can refresh your outlook on a new project or idea you have. That being said, not everything has to be about work 24/7; that’s not how you “recharge the battery,” so to speak. Even if it’s just something you enjoy, try reading a little bit here and there. You might be surprised by the results.

Be sure to prioritize your mental and physical health to ensure that you are prepared to meet your workplace responsibilities.

With the shift in the manner in which humans interact with machines - and increased number of available machines, it is important to look at how these devices could have an effect on your data security. Today, we look at a few security issues that have popped up with the IoT and how responsible IT administrators can help their organizations ward off these negative situations.

The Things
The things you find in your workplace are honestly not that different than the things you will find in your home, your gym, or any other place you come into contact with smart equipment. There are the ones that the business utilizes, and the ones brought there by their employees. Wearables, like smartwatches, if directly attached to a network, can bring in nefarious code, but for the most part, these devices come with integrated security software (through their OS), and are less of a threat than devices that are left unprotected by their developer support.

The problem businesses have is that it’s against a consumer’s nature to disregard the cool, new devices because they may present a problem for them down the road. So now there are literally billions of smart devices connected to the Internet each day that don’t get any attention. This is largely because the idea of the “smart” life, the one where people are clamoring to be the first in their neighborhood to be using these smart technologies, simply hasn’t materialized, leaving support for older products at a minimum or non-existent. Turns out a small business doesn’t have the available capital to invest in replacing all their technology with smarter technology. So companies (and consumers) are doing it piecemeal. If IoT devices are to become the standard, manufacturers are going to have to find a way to provide IoT devices affordably. There is little doubt that a world where typical products are connected, monitored, and managed is still an inevitability, but that reality hasn’t developed as fast as some people projected.

IoT Uses for Business
The modern business typically tries to use innovative new tools in the most effective manner possible. The Internet of Things, however, may seem like one of those concepts that weren’t built for business use, as the tools that get the most press are smart appliances and energy-saving technology like smart thermostats and smart lights. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, industry experts surmise that nearly 70 percent of all IoT implementations through 2020 will happen in a business setting.

So, what are some of these smart tools that an SMB should consider deploying?

1. Real-Time Data Management - By attaching all of your resources to a network, administrators are able to track every part of your business, whether that be expenses, workflow, hardware, etc.
2. Streamline Supply Chain - For the growing manufacturer, the IoT can become a complete game-changer. By having an IoT system capable of integrating with the complete production, distribution, and procurement processes, it can be free from human error, making business run much more efficiently. This is made possible through the use of data loggers, barcode readers and RFID tags.
3. Remote Worker Management - The IoT is helping connect systems that aren’t typically connected. As a result, the feasibility of having a staff of remote workers has never been more realistic. Companies will be able to reduce turnover, reduce costs, and get higher degrees of productivity out of their resources with the use of IoT-based integrations.
4. Workplace Management - For those businesses that are forced to (or who choose to) employ onsite workers, the IoT can be a major time and money saver. By deploying smart locks, smart thermostats, smart lighting, etc., you can save money and have complete control over how your workplace is setup and managed.
5. Time Management - You know those smart speakers everyone is getting as gifts? They can do a lot. In fact, they can do as much or more that a human assistant. Voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana (to name a few) will become important components of the modern workplace over the next few years; and, can function as a central hub of other IoT devices that you use for your business.

IoT and Data Security/Privacy
For the small or medium-sized business, the IoT is all about data; and, the questions that are presented when capturing it. Why, if it’s making things easier, is there this underlying fear about IoT? Whose data is it exactly? What data is helpful/hurtful to your organization?

To answer this, we have to know what exactly an IoT device is.

An Internet of Things device is any device that has integrated network functionality. That’s it. There doesn’t have to be much function to it, and as you’ll learn soon, security isn’t necessarily a priority either. Knowing that, you have to know that when each of these devices is accessed by people, it creates a veritable treasure trove of data. So, in order to properly use IoT devices for your business, you have to do two things:

1. Ensure data goes where it needs to go so it is protected or destroyed.
2. Secure the devices against threats.

That’s it. If you want to protect your network from the threats surrounding IoT devices, you’ll have to understand both the security of your network from the outside, and the integrated security of any device you allow to access your network.

The Threats
There are several threats the IoT can present, but two of them are extreme. The first one is the propensity for these devices to not be secure. Since new smart things are made every day, some of the older smart things will need to be upgraded to stay secure. The problem with this is that many devices don’t have strong support, and don’t necessarily even get updates. This can put your network in a very precarious position. When deciding which IoT devices to allow on your business’ network, you have to know that it comes with the security required.

The other threat is that, today, with so many devices providing access to a person’s sensitive information, lines are beginning to blur a bit as to what is good to use and what is too personal. For example, an employee wears a fitness band and connects it to your business’ network. Of course, all the data from that device is fully able to be captured, but should it be? The job of the IT administrator gets more difficult when they have to decide what data has to stay anonymous and what data is fair to use. This is why many cloud-based IoT platforms will present IT administrators with the ability to encrypt certain types of information. Since not all platforms do this, it is on the shoulders of the IT administrator to make sure they understand that (along with the security of the business’ network) users’ privacy needs to be made a priority.

As the IoT continues its immense growth, people will be utilizing it to improve their lives and their businesses. There is a lot that is misunderstood about the Internet of Things, and a lot that even experts don’t know yet. With its emergence, however, it will likely transform the way small and medium-sized businesses look at their data. For more information about the Internet of Things, visit our blog today.

Reason 1: Mobility
Let’s begin with the most obvious reason laptops are a great option - you aren’t tied to a desk to do your work as you would be with a conventional desktop. Instead, you can just pick it up and take it with you, whether that’s to a meeting on the other side of the office or home for some remote work. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen someone haul an entire desktop workstation around, but if you have, you know that it just isn’t practical to do.

Potentially travelling with a laptop is also much easier. A desktop workstation would need to be carefully stowed in a vehicle, if not shipped to its destination. While it may seem like a hassle at the airport, stowing a laptop in a carry-on is a much more secure and convenient option when all is said and done.

In short, utilizing a laptop makes a lot more sense in an increasingly mobile world than does utilizing its far less mobile cousin, the desktop.

Reason 2: Concision
If the resources are there, one might make the argument that it makes more sense to utilize both a desktop and a laptop - one for the office, and one for home and travel.

Financial considerations aside, there are other issues with this strategy. The major one is the fact that it makes it that much more complicated to ensure that everything you need is where you need it to be, when you need it to be there. There is little that is more professionally frustrating than sitting down to work and realizing that the data you need is on your other device. Hopefully, you have the access to the other device at the time to make the necessary transfer.

While properly utilizing a cloud solution would be another way to approach this difficulty, why use two devices when one will suffice? That way, you can be sure that your employees always have access to the programs and data that they need to be productive.

Reason 3: Consistency
One of the most important considerations for any office technology configuration to take into account is how compatible the many devices it contains are with each other, and the solutions needed to accomplish each day’s tasks. If each employee has a different device, not only is this no longer guaranteed, you have no guarantee that each laptop will have the same shortcuts and features. For instance, if you want to encrypt the data on laptops and allow your staff to sign in with a thumbprint scanner, not all models are equipped with that. Different devices don’t tend to change how complicated it is to manage the devices, but it can vary the experience your users have and limit the policies you can set.

Standardizing your office’s devices becomes much easier when everyone has the same device, which inherently means that everyone has the same capabilities in the office. Of course, if someone needs their device to have more specialized capabilities, they should be the exception. However, for the run-of-the-mill tasks that many are responsible for, the average laptop should suit them just fine.

If you want more help in designing your technology infrastructure and setting it up for prolonged productivity, reach out to Coleman Technologies. One call to (604) 513-9428 is all it takes to start receiving the technology services that you need for success!

To get the most out of A.I., we first need to understand why A.I. seems to be the likely answer to a lot of troubles surrounding network security.

What Makes A.I. So Helpful?
Automated systems might be able to help organizations protect a network to a certain degree, but there are a lot of reasons to be cautiously optimistic about their inclusion in modern network security. Considering the lack of technology education in today’s business environment, it can be difficult to acquire the skills needed to protect against high-level threats and implement necessary security solutions. This doesn’t change the fact that security is more important than ever before, though, as more devices are being introduced to networks every day. The more devices, the more likely threats are to surface, and the more difficult it is to protect networks. A.I., backed by algorithms to detect threats, has the potential to improve network security, as well as make the jobs of internal IT departments much easier.

Of course, there are several reasons why A.I. for network security isn’t the best solution. Here are a few of them.

Considering How Threats Are Detected by Artificial Intelligence
How does A.I. detect threats? Even if machine learning gives these solutions the ability to learn over time, it has to start somewhere. A.I. initially identifies threats based on algorithms assigned to them. According to the MIT Technology Review, A.I. is essentially “trained” to detect threats based on tags assigned to specific data sets. The unfortunate side-effect of this is that the programs can essentially be reverse-engineered by hackers if they get ahold of them, effectively giving malware developers the ability to create threats that aren’t identifiable by the majority of automated systems.

Overreliance on a Single Method
With only one way to detect threats, A.I. is quite vulnerable to being exploited, as hackers can simply turn that into their own advantage. This is why it’s so important to have multiple algorithms to detect threats, as only one isn’t going to be enough to keep all threats out of your network. Consider this hypothetical scenario: your office hires a single security guard that keeps watch over the front door of your building. There are no other guards on-site to protect the building, and you don’t have security cameras. While nobody is getting in the front door, what about the other entry points? It’s a simple fact that one algorithm is easily exploitable and far from an ideal security situation.

Coleman Technologies can help your business determine the best security solutions on the market, and they can be combined with our expertise and active monitoring to ensure data security from a variety of threats. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.