Coleman Technologies Blog

How to Minimize General Exposure in the Office

Based on what is currently known about the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have some recommendations as to how to keep the potential impact of coronavirus to a minimum:

• Encourage employees who are ill to stay home. This will help to minimize the spread of infection within your business. Make sure that your employees are aware of this policy by reiterating it verbally, and by posting notices around the office encouraging them to stay home if under the weather.
  
  Emphasize hygiene and etiquette. Properly stifling coughs and sneezes and keeping hands clean are surprisingly effective ways to keep your workplace healthier. Rather than using their hands to catch a cough or sneeze, your employees should use a tissue or--if unable to do so--use the upper part of their sleeve.
  
  The CDC recommends that tissues and alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be made readily available. Make sure your employees are washing their hands with soap and water for the recommended 20 seconds.
  
  

• Engage in keeping the workplace clean. There is a chance that coronavirus (and other illnesses) could be spread via infected surfaces. Make sure that all surfaces that are touched frequently, like desks, workstations, and doorknobs, are kept sanitized. Provide your employees with disposable wipes so they can proactively disinfect these surfaces before use.

If you find that one of your employees is confirmed to have been infected with coronavirus, make sure that you inform their coworkers of their possible exposure while still maintaining the confidentiality that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires. These employees and those who are living with a sick family member should assess their risk of exposure using the CDC’s guidelines.

Coronavirus as a Cyberthreat

Unfortunately, coronavirus will also require you to also keep an eye on your network security, particularly if you operate within the healthcare industry. Hackers and cybercriminals have taken advantage of the widespread concern that the disease has caused. For example:

• Scammers have phished healthcare providers with updates that appear to have come from the World Health Organization or hospitals local to their area, but actually introduce keyloggers into their systems.
• Those involved in the medical supply chain have been targeted with emails referencing the coronavirus that install malware to steal information.
• Ransomware has been introduced into consumer systems by promising recipients of an email information about COVID-19’s spread.

While the current climate may not make it easy, these emails and other threat vectors can be overcome through the same best practices that foil other cyberthreats. In addition to comprehensive digital protections, training your employees to spot these threats will be crucial.

Of course, you should also maintain a comprehensive backup in case you need to recover from a successful attack.

How to Maintain Productivity with Your Team at Home

With today’s technology, sending an employee home sick doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be sacrificing that employee’s productivity. We now have many ways that your team can work effectively from home, still contributing to your organizational agenda without exposing their coworkers to their illness.

Equipping Your Employees

Remote access solutions, paired with virtual private networking technology, can allow your employees to securely continue their work from home, safely accessing the applications and data their tasks require through an encrypted connection. As collaboration will certainly be necessary, you will want to be sure that your employees are also equipped with the communication tools that facilitate this collaboration as well.

Network Protections

You will also want to thoroughly secure your network infrastructure to help prevent threats like phishing attacks and other methods from being successful… as well as preparing for a potential breach or emergency with data backups and disaster recovery policies and procedures (including contact information for your employees) to help mitigate a worst-case scenario.

Employee Awareness

Finally, make sure your employees are on the lookout for any suspicious activity that could be a cybercriminal’s attempt at using the coronavirus as a means to an end. Not only should your employees know how to spot these attempts; they should also know the proper procedures for reporting and handling them.

Is the coronavirus scary? At this point, it is safe to say that it is, but does it have to interrupt your business operations entirely? Not if you are properly prepared.

For more assistance in preparing your business for any kind of disaster, reach out to the professionals at Coleman Technologies by calling (604) 513-9428.

What is COVID-19?

COVID-19, better known as coronavirus, is a respiratory illness that first appeared in Wuhan, China, and was reported in the United States on January 21st, 2020.

As of March 3rd, 12 states have reported 60 total cases of coronavirus and six confirmed deaths, with no vaccines or specific antiviral treatments for the illness. Symptoms of the virus include fever, shortness of breath, and a cough, while those with complications from the virus can experience pneumonia in both lungs, failure of multiple organs, and death. 

Fortunately, there is: password management systems.

What Are Password Management Systems?

A password manager is effectively what it says on the box: it’s a program that keeps track of your passwords for you. While these are available for individual users, we are more concerned with those that are meant for businesses to leverage.

These solutions have a reputation for being complicated and time-intensive to set up. However, this no longer has to be the case, and it is now more important that you find a solution that offers the features that every business needs to prioritize.

What to Look for from a Password Manager

During your search, you will want to make sure your chosen password management system offers the following features:

Security

While this may seem obvious, not all of your password management options will necessarily offer the same protections or follow the same practices. For instance, standalone password managers are inherently more secure than those tied to another solution, like a built-in one in your browser of choice.

These separate solutions usually have additional features to assist your security as you use them. Good password managers will remind you of best practices if too many saved passwords are the same or too weak and will require multi-factor authentication to be accessed in the first place. It also wouldn’t hurt to find one that also notifies you when you’re due to update some of the passwords you have saved.

It should also never save one password: the master password used to access the solution itself. That is still the user’s responsibility.

As far as behind-the-scenes security is concerned, you should find a password manager that is itself protected by a variety of security features, like encryption, role-based access, and secure cloud storage.

Storage Considerations

Determining where your credentials are kept by the password manager is another important detail to keep in mind, largely as an extension of your security considerations. Does your password manager save your passwords to the cloud, or are they kept natively on the device? Either approach has its pros and cons.

If the cloud is leveraged, your credentials will be available to you on any of your devices… but this does put your credentials in the crosshairs if that cloud solution was ever breached. If you keep your credentials stored locally, you won’t risk losing them in a cloud storage breach, but they are still vulnerable. For instance, if that device fails, there go your passwords.

Generally, this won’t have much impact on the solution you choose, as most enable either option, if not a combination of both.

User Friendliness

As difficult as your password manager should make things for cybercriminals, it should make simple for your legitimate users - starting with adding and removing them to the business’ accounts. They should find it easy to change their password as needed, and your password manager should automatically log a user into a website or application. If it senses that there are not currently credentials for that site, it should offer to save them.

Coleman Technologies has plenty of experience dealing with password security, which means we’re familiar with password managers and maintaining them. If you’d like assistance with selecting, implementing, and utilizing one in your business, let us know! We’re just a call to (604) 513-9428 away.

Did you know that a lot of technology investments go over budget or don’t necessarily provide the return that was intended? With technology playing such an important role in business, getting the right technology to fit your business is critical to your efficiency efforts. It’s not always as easy as identifying features in a huge software profile or using the cloud for everything. In today’s blog, we offer five useful tips to help you make informed decisions about your business’ technology.

Assess Your Needs

Before you start shopping for technology, conduct a thorough assessment of your business requirements. You’ll want to identify the specific problems or inefficiencies you want to address, and then consider how implementing certain technologies can help. Create a list of must-have features and functionalities, as well a budget that you need to come in under.

Research and Stay Informed

Technology evolves rapidly, so it's important to stay informed about the latest trends and advancements. Subscribe to industry publications, attend trade shows, and follow tech blogs to keep up with the latest developments. Make sure you understand how emerging technologies could benefit your business.

Seek Expert Advice

Don't hesitate to consult with experts or hire a technology consultant if needed. They can provide valuable insights and guidance on the best solutions for your business. Professionals can help you navigate complex decisions and ensure you make the right technology choices.

Test Before You Invest

Whenever possible, try out different technologies through pilot programs or trial promotions. This allows you to assess how well a particular technology aligns with your business needs and how your team adapts to it. It's a wise approach before making large financial commitments.

Futurization

Think about the long-term impact of your technology choices. Consider whether the technology can scale as your business grows. Additionally, ensure that the chosen technology can integrate with your existing systems and software. Seamless integration can save time, reduce errors, and improve overall efficiency.

At Coleman Technologies, we work with British Columbia businesses every day to help them be their very best and we hope that you make great technology choices. If you need assistance doing so, however, don’t hesitate to give our technology experts a call today at (604) 513-9428.

Collaboration is at the heart of any effective business. Most organizations today are trying to make the most of their limited resources, and one of the ways to do this is with a solid collaboration strategy. Here’s how you can do the same to avoid siloing tasks and squandering your workforce’s potential.

Collaboration in Business

In business, it’s easy to confuse collaboration and communication as the same thing.

The truth is that they are very different things. Collaboration involves more direct work between parties toward a shared goal. On the other hand, communication is the channel through which teamwork flows.

Technology gives businesses the ability to improve collaboration at all levels:

• Simple collaboration - This type involves real-time communications like instant messaging that provide quick results. Although it can often lead to distractions, it promotes a fast and easy exchange of ideas, which leads to more effective project completion.
• Data collaboration - This collaboration goes beyond simple communication and gives multiple workers the ability to contribute at the same time. This might look like working in the same document in real-time. This type of collaboration has flourished in a world where remote and hybrid work is accepted.
• Structured collaboration - With this level of collaboration, you have structured meetings where the physical or live virtual interaction between attendees is necessary. Whether the meeting is effective or not usually depends on the agenda (if one exists) and how much the attendees’ input is considered.

The Importance of Collaboration

You can supercharge your business with the right collaborative approach.

More often than not, more opinions and feedback mean more opportunities to do good. When your employees are trained appropriately, collaboration technology helps facilitate just that. With cloud-based tools and streamlined processes, you will be amazed at your team's accomplishments.

For more information about collaboration technology, contact Coleman Technologies at (604) 513-9428.

Cloud computing has become a common tool, especially Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Hosted software provides robust options that make sense to all companies, including anytime-anywhere availability, scalability, and provider management of the underlying hardware. In today’s blog, we want to discuss a couple of tips people can use when working with cloud computing.

Automate Backups and Set Recovery Points

Every business should back up its platforms, no matter where they are hosted. For cloud platforms, businesses need to automate regular backups. Since most cloud platforms offer scheduled backups, you’ll want to take advantage of these to protect critical files and databases. Since data loss or corruption can be catastrophic to your business, automating backups ensures you always have a recoverable version, minimizing downtime and disruption.

Take Advantage of Integrations

The cool thing about many cloud platforms is their ability to integrate with others. To get the most out of your cloud solutions, you’ll want to maximize productivity by combining your cloud software with other tools you use, such as CRM, project management, or marketing platforms. Look for APIs or built-in integration features to streamline processes across different software. Cloud services are built to work together with other platforms, and integrating them helps promote automation to reduce errors and improve efficiency.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication

Security always has to be a priority. Always enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for any cloud-based software. This adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification in addition to the traditional password. Since cloud software is accessible from anywhere, it can be more vulnerable to unauthorized access. MFA significantly improves security by protecting your accounts from being compromised, even if your password is stolen.

Optimize Storage and Costs

Controlling costs is always important in business. You need to monitor and manage your cloud storage usage. Archive old data and files rarely accessed to cheaper, long-term storage options and set up alerts for when you approach your storage limit to avoid unexpected costs. As your business grows, so do your data and cloud storage costs. You can optimize your storage by shifting infrequently accessed data to lower-cost options, which helps control expenses while ensuring important files remain accessible when needed.

If you want to talk to one of our IT professionals about making the cloud work for you, call us at (604) 513-9428.

Running a business may never be totally smooth sailing, but it doesn’t have to be a complete grind all the time either. Managing complexities with your business’ technology is a good way to ensure that things move ahead with some efficiency. Today, we look at four ways to effectively handle complexities in the realm of business technology.

Strategic Planning and Alignment

The first thing that has to happen is that you need to assess your business’ goals then work to align technology initiatives with these goals to ensure that any IT investments contribute directly to the success of the business. You’ll want to create a comprehensive technology roadmap that outlines how different systems and technologies will evolve over time. This roadmap should account for strategic changes inside of a business and allow for the integration of emerging technologies that can bring better efficiency.

Integration and Interoperability

If possible, you’ll want to select technology that is scalable and can grow with the business. Scalable systems are better equipped to handle increased complexity and the quickly growing data volumes that businesses have today. Another thing that has to be considered is how to improve data flow. One of the best ways to do this is through integration, as it ensures that data flows efficiently across the organization, reducing the complexity of structuring data. 

Cybersecurity and Risk Management

Cybersecurity is one of the most pressing issues any organization has. One of the best ways to thwart risk is to monitor your systems. By implementing a robust cybersecurity framework and regularly monitoring endpoints for potential vulnerabilities, you can better detect and respond to security threats in real-time, minimizing the risk of data breaches and other cyberattacks.

You’ll also want to educate employees on cybersecurity best practices. Establish clear policies and procedures for data protection and ensure that employees are well-informed and trained to follow them.

Agile Project Management

The last point is about building business agility. You’ll need to embrace agile project management methodologies to increase flexibility and be able to respond to your changing needs. Additionally, your business can become more agile with a comprehensive cross-platform training program. The more people that know how to do a job, the more apt that you’ll be able to complete a project efficiently and effectively. 

By adopting these strategies, organizations can navigate the complexities of technology and position themselves inside their market. It’s best to regularly reassess and refine your business’ approach to stay ahead of emerging challenges and opportunities. If you need help getting started, give IT experts at Coleman Technologies a call today at (604) 513-9428.

Strategy #1 - Know the Value of Your Assets

By knowing the value of the data you hold, you will be able to properly prioritize how to protect it. Since IT experts have to create cybersecurity strategies based on how much harm can be done to your operational integrity and reputation, it’s good practice to know what assets hackers would be after if they were to breach your network defenses. 

Strategy #2 - Stay Proactive

One of the best ways to protect your network and infrastructure from security threats is to be proactive in your efforts to protect them. You’ll want to develop a response plan that is created with the worst-case scenario in mind. That way as soon as there is a cyberattack, you will know how to react and what strategies to take to mitigate the problem. 

Strategy #3 - Train Your People

One thing is certain, a well-trained staff will do more to protect your network and data than any other solution. The “all-hands-on-deck” strategy to cybersecurity will minimize the frequency and severity of cyberthreats by nearly 50 percent, so ensuring that all of your people know how to spot abnormalities (especially phishing attacks) can save your business a lot of time and money. 

Strategy #4 - Keep Innovating

One thing is certain, cybersecurity is as much about staying out in front in terms of tools and strategies as it is about being hyper-aware of potential problems. Sure, knowing how to react to a data breach or successful phishing attack is important, but the more that you understand how these hackers are coming at your business, and putting tools and strategies in place to thwart those attacks, the more secure your data and resources are going to be going forward.

Cybersecurity is a long game and if you want the best team in British Columbia helping you come up with strategies and outfitting your business with the tools it needs to keep hackers at bay, give Coleman Technologies a call today at (604) 513-9428.

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!

For businesses, one of the scariest threats out there is that of compliance fines for not holding up your end of the bargain with your customers’ data. But what goes into compliance, and what does it look like? We won’t be digging into the nitty-gritty of what these specific regulations require; rather, we’re performing a broad analysis of what businesses should be doing to ensure compliance, regardless of the protocol or the industry.

Some Common Core Principles

Even though there are plenty of industry-specific standards and regulations you need to comply with, these regulations usually have several core principles in common:

• Transparency - Your customers have a right to know what data you collect, how you use it, and who you share it with.
• Consent - Never collect data from customers (or worse, sell it) without their consent. This is especially the case with personal data or sensitive information.
• Data minimization - While having a lot of data on your customers can be a good thing for sales, marketing, and so on, only collect and retain data that you need, and only do so if you have a specific, legitimate purpose for holding on to it.
• Data security - This is honestly a no-brainer; if people are going to trust your business with their data, it’s your obligation to ensure it’s protected to the best of your ability. This means protecting data from unauthorized access, like a data breach.
• Individual Rights - Remember, you’re collecting the data of customers—people who have trusted your business—so the least you can do is respect their rights to collect, delete, and restrict what you do with their personal data.

Again, the requirements vary by industry, but most businesses (if not all) should anticipate adhering to regulations that do the above, at a bare minimum.

What You Can Do to Ensure Compliance

While the above might paint a broad picture of compliance, we assure you it’s much better to be safe than sorry.

We recommend that you take inventory of all the data your business collects, as well as what it’s used for and how it’s stored. Once you’ve done that, be sure to implement any security measures you’re lacking, whether they’re strong passwords, encryption, unified threat management, and endpoint protection. All employees should also be well-versed in your business’ data privacy policies and security expectations, so implement a training schedule that’s reinforced with regular reviews.

Taking data privacy seriously isn’t easy, but we have a solution that makes it a lot easier.

We Can Help You Protect Your Data

IT plays a significant role in compliance, specifically when it comes to data security.

All businesses collect personal information in some regard, whether it’s the personal information of their employees, the payment credentials of their customers, or the health insurance documentation employees need to receive care. You need to keep this data safe. Thankfully, you can do it with ease thanks to our security solutions.

To get started taking compliance seriously (and you should), give Coleman Technologies a call at (604) 513-9428 today.

Whether it's a personal challenge or a necessity, keeping productivity high is good for an individual’s career growth and overall self-worth. Unfortunately, staying on top of your game can be difficult. We thought we would give you three things to consider that will work to keep your productivity levels high.

#1 - Planning

To prioritize productivity, interruptions need to be eliminated. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to set out everything you need to do and sort all of it by project priority, time to accomplish tasks, and how completed tasks should be disseminated. This will give you a natural list of what to do first, how much time you have to accomplish the tasks laid out to you, and who depends on the work you are about to accomplish.

#2 - Sprint, Not a Marathon

One thing that people don’t always understand is that trying to sustain long stretches of productivity inherently makes a person less productive. When the mind gets tired, mistakes are more common and then work has to be redone. The answer to this is to work in sprints. Basically, take a task and complete it, take a break, start and complete another task, etc. If a task is too big to complete in 20-to-30 minutes, break it into smaller pieces. Being able to focus on one thing at a time can really help you get more done in a day.

#3 - Eliminate Distractions

One of the biggest problems with workers in the information age is that they are tethered to their phones. Most people take part in social media and the more times that someone touches their device, the more distracted they become. That is not even considering the litany of other distractions that can stymie productivity. Limiting notifications on devices and setting no-screen zones can go a long way toward keeping you from being distracted and your eyes on the proverbial prize. 

At Coleman Technologies, we help British Columbia businesses get the most out of their technology. Give us a call today at (604) 513-9428 to learn how we can help you.

While the word “audit” can easily be a scary thought for businesses, there are certain cases where an audit serves an organization’s direct benefit. Take, for instance, the ones that occur internally to identify and correct security issues and vulnerabilities. These audits are not only a positive endeavor for businesses; they’re extremely important to carry out.

Let’s talk about why this is and review a few standard practices you should prioritize as you go about this process.

First, What is a Security Audit, and Why Is It So Important?

As you would expect, a security audit reviews and analyzes a business’ protections against modern threats. It is meant to identify existing vulnerabilities and indicate where a business needs to improve its protections.

Hopefully, the reason it is so important is already clear, but just in case:

A security audit enables a business to understand its real-life risks better and improve its protections more effectively.

More specifically:

• An audit helps you find and resolve digital vulnerabilities in your infrastructure
• You also get insights into your business’ security and ways to improve it overall
• Auditing your security preparedness also helps you meet the evolution of modern threats
• Taking the initiative to identify and improve these vulnerabilities helps you inspire trust in your clients/customers
• Many compliance standards that businesses are beholden to are more easily followed with the help of an audit
• The information gleaned during an audit can help you develop more effective security policies moving forward
• Cyberattack preparedness and response can also be informed by data collected in an audit

What Kinds of Security Audits Are There?

First, audits can be separated by who is conducting them. Internal audits are conducted by members of the business being audited, and external audits involve a third party evaluating the business’ security preparations. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, so undergoing both to the best of your ability will probably be ideal.

Whomever it is that is carrying out the audit, there are five security umbrellas that it should cover:

1. Data - How protected is your data and access to it, whether at rest in a technology infrastructure or in transit?
2. Operational - When examining your data loss prevention strategies, does every policy and procedure meet applicable best practices?
3. Network - Are your network-wide security controls actually effective, including your antivirus and monitoring strategies? 
4. System - What processes and procedures are in place regarding account privileges and their management, patching, or role-based access controls?
5. Physical - While your team uses their devices, what requirements are in place for them to access your network securely regarding access controls, authentication measures, and on-device data protections?

How to Optimize Your Security Audits

There are a few things that all of your audits should involve to help ensure you get as much value as you can from each of them. For instance:

Set Goals

While a security audit can and should cover various aspects of your business security, you should go into it with specific objectives in mind. How well does your network security operate? What vulnerabilities do you need to resolve? Having a goal in mind for your audit can help you better understand and approach different shortcomings as they are identified.

Communicate With Your Auditor

Whether an internal resource or an external provider like Coleman Technologies is conducting your evaluation, you must reiterate the goals we just discussed as well as some of your business’ more specific needs… particularly concerning your compliance. While your auditor should already know what to look for, communicating with them can only be helpful.

Act on the Information

Evaluating your existing security measures and not making any changes based on the results would be a waste of time and money. Make sure you consider your audit's outcome completely, lean on an IT professional for assistance, and make the adjustments they recommend.

We Can Be Here for You

If you worked with us, you’d have access to a team of technology experts committed to helping your business’ IT—and, by extension, your business—thrive, focusing on both productivity and security. To learn more about what we can offer, call us at (604) 513-9428.

Among IT professionals, an acronym is sometimes used when discussing certain issues and challenges: “PEBKAC,” or Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. In other words, user error. 

While it’s a fun little inside joke that can help frustrated technicians blow off steam, we cannot deny that PEBKAC implies some disrespect for the end user. Frankly, that’s not the perspective anyone offering support should take.

Instead, our approach to IT support is more reminiscent of a very different perspective.

Good IT Support Requires Empathy

For context, we have to go back to 1996 and acquaint ourselves with a researcher and publisher named Philip Agre. A doctoral graduate of MIT and researcher of artificial intelligence, Agre also wrote prolifically about a variety of topics and maintained an online newsletter called The Network Observer. UCLA has preserved his work and it is available to be read freely in their archives.

In 1996, Agre posted a brief article titled “How to help someone use a computer.” In it, he documented an impressive list of platitudes he felt support professionals (or really, anyone) should remember when helping someone else use a computer and a list of best practices to follow while providing that assistance.

It’s fascinating to read almost 30 years later because it really shows that the more things change, the more they stay the same. For instance, the following nuggets are just a few pieces of advice Agre gives the reader:

“Nobody is born knowing this stuff.”

“You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner.”

“A computer is a means to an end. The person you're helping probably cares mostly about the end. This is reasonable.”

“They might be afraid that you're going to blame them for the problem.”

Later, in the “rules” he gives for a support professional to follow, Agre clearly endorses a gentle, empathetic approach.

While We Break Some of Agre’s Rules, We Follow the Important Ones

As a managed service provider, a key part of our job is operating in the background to help prevent users from experiencing issues. Otherwise, we’re there for them to call on when they actively need assistance. Our goal is to resolve the issue and get them back on track.

This directly contradicts one of Agre’s virtues: “Your primary goal is not to solve their problem. Your primary goal is to help them become one notch more capable of solving their problem on their own. So it's okay if they take notes.”

However, beyond this and a few other exceptions, we totally align with what Agre endorses. After all, it summarizes any good IT technician's approach: listen, educate, and resolve. Not only is it a more effective means of solving a problem, it does so by building a community, and as Agre put it:

“Knowledge lives in communities, not individuals. A computer user who's part of a community of computer users will have an easier time than one who isn't.”

We like to think that all our clients around British Columbia have a positive experience working with us. If this sounds like something you want to assist your business in achieving its goals, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask. Call us at (604) 513-9428 to start a conversation about your needs and concerns.

While your business might last into the near future, your IT is more challenging to upkeep and preserve over time. You’ll have to consider reworking and restructuring your infrastructure to ensure that it stands the test of time. Let’s review some warning signs that it might be time to do just that.

4 Ways to Know You Should Restructure Your Business IT

Fixes That Used to Work Have Stopped

Technology updates will only help for so long.

There comes a time in every technology’s lifecycle when enough is simply enough. Patches and updates are no longer released, and that’s generally when you know it’s time to give up on a solution and implement a new one. Your business’ IT is no different, and you should pay attention to when these fixes have stopped working.

In short, create a plan to move on from your business’ solutions way ahead of any end-of-life or end-of-support events for your company’s technology solutions.

Your Business Has Undergone Exceptional Change

If your business is changing, it’s generally considered a good thing, but for your technology, it can often get complicated.

Small shifts are much easier to accommodate, but major changes in services offered, operations, the size of your company’s workforce, changes to client or customer expectations, and so on can all contribute to more difficult adjustments. It’s not uncommon for businesses to upgrade their technology in response to changes in their business circumstances. Sometimes the fix is to implement entirely new systems.

Large changes to your business’ infrastructure should be discussed with your IT department so they can determine the most efficient way to proceed.

Your Business Has Stagnated

If your business has remained the same for the past 20 years, it might be time to make some changes.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a valid approach, but in the case of business technology, this is rarely the case. As solutions age, they also age you out of competing with other businesses that do the same thing as you. It can also stymie innovation, which is never a good thing.

Thankfully, IT can empower your business to make adjustments that could drive your business forward.

Your Business Can’t Keep Up

Putting off projects because your business can’t keep up is another sign that it’s time for a change.

Imagine that your business is always playing catch-up. When will you find the time to implement the solutions that truly move the needle in the right direction? Rather than responding to issues with your business technology, it’s time to start thinking about proactively managing it to more effectively prevent issues entirely.

This type of IT management is the accepted standard today, and you should strive for it.

We’ll Put the Power Back in Your Hands

Coleman Technologies can help your business better manage its technology, particularly during high-stress restructuring scenarios like any of the above. Learn more by calling us at (604) 513-9428 today.

Create Procedures for Both Routine and Emergency Patches

Many patches are released on a predictable schedule, so as to make it easier to keep up on patches - after all, if you know that a patch is going to be released on a certain date, you can set aside time to apply that patch. There are also emergency patches that are released when a vulnerability is discovered and remediated.

As you might imagine, both are important to maintain - one, to keep your business as free as possible from vulnerabilities, and second (and perhaps more obviously), to keep your business secure in the face of an impending threat. That’s why you need to make sure you have set processes in place to ensure that all patches are tested and applied. While it may not always be a pressing security issue, it is better to be prepared for anything that the vendor is concerned about.

At Coleman Technologies, we always build out and update our procedure, and test updates before they are applied to prevent downtime and other issues. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.

Have a Controlled, but Realistic, Environment for Testing Purposes

Let me ask you a hypothetical question: someone comes up to you on the street and offers you a pill that would make you immune to the common cold, but with no peer reviews by any medical board or the FDA. So, do you take it?

I would hope you would say no, simply because you have no idea of the effectiveness of the pill without it having been tested. Patches are the same way. Without any testing, you simply don’t know how well the patch will work, or if it will interfere with another process. Before you apply any patches to your primary infrastructure, you need to have made these evaluations in a reasonable approximation of it. An effective means of doing so is to spin up a virtualized environment and stress-test the patch there, before actually applying it - just make sure you give your tests enough time to produce trustworthy results.

Keep Track of When Patches Are Released

Depending on the hardware and software you use, patches are going to be released on a different schedule. This is because different manufacturers and vendors manage their schedules differently. Just look at Microsoft and their famous Patch Tuesday (typically the second and sometimes the fourth Tuesday of each month). In order to properly keep your patches up-to-date, you need to know when to expect them.

For assistance with your business’ patch management, you can always turn to Coleman Technologies. Give our professionals a call at (604) 513-9428.

Phishing is a common issue that businesses of all kinds can experience, whether they are a small startup or a large corporation. Hackers are always trying to extol information from your employees, including account credentials, remote access to your systems, and in some cases, funds directly from a bank account. It’s up to you to teach them how to identify and respond to phishing attacks.

Here are some strategies you can teach them for how to address phishing attacks against your infrastructure.

Be Wary of Unsolicited Requests—Especially Suspicious Ones

Chances are you’ve seen the messages you get in your inbox about confirming special offers or doing certain tasks, like clicking on a link or downloading an email attachment. More often than not, these types of unsolicited emails are phishing attempts designed to get you to act in a specific way. If you think a message looks suspicious, then it probably is, and you should flag the message as such so your IT can handle it. You might look for unprofessional language, misspelled words, or other similar telltale signs when you are making your decision.

Be Especially Careful with Phishing Links

Although they are not necessarily anything new, phishing links are still quite dangerous because they take almost no time at all to put together. A phishing link can come in the form of an email, social media message, or even a text message. Hackers will use every trick they can think of to get you to click on the link, and if you’re not careful, you might actually do it. Links can look legitimate even if they are not; for example, a zero could easily be slotted in the place of a capital “o.”

Use Alternative Methods of Identity Confirmation

Let’s say you get a message that you are truly 50-50 on. It could be real, or it could be a scam. If there is even a shadow of a doubt as to the authenticity of the message, you should consider reaching out to the other party through an alternative means, just to confirm that the sender is who they claim to be. For example, if it’s GoDaddy support, contact GoDaddy support through the phone number on their actual website rather than the one in the email message. If it’s an internal message, like one from your supervisor or your IT department, reach out to them with the contact information you have on-hand to verify their identity. In all cases, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

You can help your business stay protected against phishing attacks by working with Coleman Technologies. We can equip your organization with the tools to protect itself and the support your team needs to identify such messages. To learn more, call us at (604) 513-9428.

Ransomware has rapidly climbed to be one of the most dangerous and feared malware attacks that is used nowadays. It’s gotten to the point that, if you wish they would just stop, we can hardly blame you.

Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that ransomware is going anywhere.

Numerous Statistics Show That, If Anything, Ransomware is On the Rise

Let’s go over just a few of these stats to really put the situation into perspective:

• In 2022, the average ransom was $812,380. This year, that average is $1.54 million.
• There’s been a 13% increase in ransomware attacks over the past five years.
• 27% of malware breaches involve ransomware.

Clearly, ransomware is here to stay. As a result, you need to be prepared to prevent it from interfering with your business.

How to Prevent Ransomware Infections in Your Business

In the vast majority of cases, ransomware is spread by taking advantage of the end user. Therefore, user training and testing is paramount.

Make sure that your team is aware of the threat of ransomware—what it is, how it works, and how to spot it. Teach them about phishing attacks, which are frequently used to spread ransomware, and general data security practices. Evaluate their readiness to avoid phishing and other cyberthreats regularly, and in addition to targeted training to resolve any identified shortcomings, make sure that all of your team members are maintaining their security practices with regular training and evaluations on the basics.

This is, admittedly, a lot…but it also isn’t something you have to tackle alone. We’re here to help. Reach out to us for assistance with your inclusive cybersecurity needs, as well as general IT maintenance and management, by calling (604) 513-9428 today.

Productivity is the lifeblood of any business, and understanding what it entails is paramount for every decision-maker in the corporate world. The concept of productivity is highly contextual, as no two businesses operate in the same way or are managed identically. Today, we present a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) that you need to consider. These twelve metrics will assist you in gauging whether your business is meeting productivity expectations or falling short.

Revenue and Sales

Keeping a close eye on your revenue and sales figures is a fundamental productivity gauge. Monitor trends, compare them with previous periods, and establish attainable sales targets.

Gross Profit Margin

This metric calculates the percentage of revenue that remains once you deduct the cost of goods sold (COGS). A higher gross profit margin signals superior productivity in generating profits from your core operations.

Net Profit Margin

Net profit margin measures the percentage of revenue remaining as profit after all expenses, including operating costs, taxes, and interest, have been subtracted. A higher net profit margin indicates a higher overall business efficiency.

Customer Acquisition Cost

Calculating the cost of acquiring a new customer is crucial. Divide your marketing and sales expenses by the number of new customers acquired. A lower CAC suggests improved productivity in gaining new customers.

Customer Lifetime Value

CLV determines the total revenue a customer is expected to generate during their tenure as a customer. It helps in evaluating the long-term productivity of your customer base.

Employee Productivity

Assess the productivity of your workforce by tracking metrics such as sales per employee, revenue per employee, or units produced per hour worked.

Inventory Turnover

The speed at which you sell your inventory is vital. Calculate this by dividing the cost of goods sold by the average inventory value. A higher turnover indicates efficient resource utilization and enhanced productivity.

Time Tracking

Monitor how employees allocate their time, and consider employing tools like time-tracking software to identify areas of inefficiency and optimize resource allocation.

Project and Task Completion Rates

Evaluating how well your team executes projects and meets deadlines is particularly critical for service-based businesses or those engaged in project-based work.

Cash Flow

Regularly monitor your cash flow to ensure you have sufficient liquidity to meet financial obligations. A positive cash flow is indicative of efficient financial management.

Employee Engagement and Satisfaction

Assess employee morale and satisfaction through surveys or feedback mechanisms. High employee engagement is often linked to increased productivity.

Customer Retention Rate

Calculate the percentage of customers who continue to do business with you over a specified period. A higher retention rate underscores the effectiveness of your customer relationship management.

By tailoring these metrics to align with your unique business objectives, you can gain a perspective that guides you in making necessary adjustments to meet your specific needs. Regularly reviewing these KPIs is essential for continuous improvement. By embracing data-driven decision making, you can empower your small business to enhance its overall performance. To discover more about how our services can assist you, don't hesitate to reach out to us at (604) 513-9428 today.