Coleman Technologies Blog

Think of that one person in your office—or that one outside vendor—who is the only human on earth who knows why your server hums or which ancient password unlocks the payroll portal. When the system crashes, they swoop in, mutter some jargon you don’t understand, and save the day. You feel relieved, but you really should be terrified. This isn't expertise; it's a hostage situation. By allowing your critical business logic to live inside someone’s head instead of in a documented system, you’ve turned your company's valuation into a single point of failure.

If your monthly IT bill feels more like a ransom payment than a strategic investment, you are not alone. For years, business owners have watched their capital disappear into a black hole of upgrades and tech-speak headaches that never seem to actually grow the business. As we move through 2026, the script has officially flipped. AI has moved past the experimental phase to become the ultimate tool for keeping your company lean, fast, and profitable. It is time to stop paying just to keep the lights on and start turning your technology into high gear.

For many business owners, the IT department feels like a black hole. You pour money and resources into it, and in return, you get upgrades you didn't ask for and a monthly subscription bill that only ever goes up. When AI showed up, it felt like a light at the end of the tunnel, but for many, it quickly became just another tool to manage that requires perfect prompting to be useful.

To move past this, we have to stop talking about models and start talking about autonomy.

Is your business ready to grow as we head into 2026? You may have heard that data is what fuels the decisions that lead to growth, but without a focus on the right types of data, you could be floundering and playing catch-up. Today, we’re sharing three types of data that your business can use to dominate in 2026, as well as solutions to help you collect it.

Do you remember when you were able to Google something and get the answer immediately, and not have to scroll past ads, sponsored results, and a not-totally-reliable answer hallucinated by an AI? You aren’t the only one. This trend of gradually declining quality in the products and services we all rely on has a very specific, descriptive name that efficiently captures what is happening to tech while also making all our feelings about it exceptionally clear.

In 2022, technology critic and author Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification.” The term was named the Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society in 2023, even beating out “AI.” It has proved so resonant that its use has expanded beyond social media platforms to include hardware, software, and technology in general.

When an employee leaves your business, they go through (or they should, at least) a comprehensive offboarding process where you collect their keys, laptops, and other assets you gave them to do their jobs. You may have collected these physical keys, but certainly not their digital keys. You might still see them pop up in the instant messaging app, or you might find recent activity from their account in your shared drive, all of which is problematic.

If you’re not careful, ex-employees might still be using company resources for their own personal use, and this can create a serious security risk for your business—not to mention the legal ramifications should anything bad happen.

With the rise of generative AI infiltrating pretty much every sector of society, it’s no wonder that businesses are finding creative new ways to use it for their gain. However, you need to be especially careful when using generative AI in the workplace. Today, we want to cover three common no-no’s that your business should keep in mind as it navigates the wild landscape that is AI.

Your IT budget can cause you a lot of stress, but if you approach it right, it doesn’t have to. Like every other part of your business, you want to have a good idea where to invest your technology budget. Not that many people do. We recommend you build out an IT roadmap, and a strategy on how to keep downtime to a minimum; and a lot of that is getting experts to manage and maintain your business’ IT.

How does your business use virtualization? We guarantee you that at least part of your infrastructure is virtualized to some degree, even if you don’t realize it. From hardware infrastructure to your desktop infrastructure, there are plenty of options for how your business can leverage virtualization for considerable impact.

Do you have an internal IT department for your business? Small businesses often don’t have dedicated IT staff, and if they do, chances are they’re overwhelmed with tasks and constantly playing catch-up (IT is a big job, after all). In fact, they might feel like they can never take time off because they’re so busy. If you want to ensure your business always has the IT it needs, then you should consider outsourcing as an option.

The more you’ve invested in anything, the more critical it feels for you to get a return on that investment. So, what happens if you keep pouring money into these efforts in the hope that it will eventually work out in your favor?

These kinds of skewed choices come about thanks to the sunk cost fallacy—the tendency human beings have to be swayed toward illogical decisions based on what we’ve already spent. 

Let’s discuss how to avoid this in your business by working through the logic, free of the emotional context that the sunk cost fallacy introduces.

Do you have your finger on the pulse of your business’ subscriptions? Not many business owners do, and it can negatively impact operations and budget lines. This tech sprawl can get out of control, which is why your business needs a plan to combat it. Thankfully, we’re here to help you get your subscriptions under control… both the known and the unknown.

One question businesses have been asking over the past couple of years is: “Is crypto a viable payment system?” With the maturity of digital asset markets and the rise of regulated stablecoins, the landscape is more professional than any time in the past, but still carries with it substantial risks. If you are considering adding digital assets to your checkout or B2B payment flow, here is the current breakdown of the pros and cons.

Business owners like you are constantly worried about cybersecurity, and with attacks growing more persistent and sophisticated over time, it’s no wonder companies are taking it more seriously than ever before. Today, we want to highlight the four most common types of threats you’ll see and what you can do to protect yourself from them.

When something goes wrong with your company’s technology, the last thing you want to do is be the one at fault. Unfortunately, that’s what comes with the territory in the world of business IT. If you’re sick of technicians who make excuses rather than own up to their mistakes and correct their course, read on. We’re going to showcase just what accountability in IT looks like and how we strive to embody it.

Let me ask you something… Do you know just how much IT downtime costs? For SMBs, it’s typically between $427 to over EIGHT GRAND an hour. Imagine your whole workforce just chillin' because the Internet's down, meanwhile deadlines are getting missed, customers are getting ticked off, and opportunities are disappearing. That's a nightmare, man. 

This is why you need to do what you need to do to keep your business up and running.

Using AI is all the rage these days. Seemingly every opportunity software developers have to add some type of AI or machine learning technology into their offerings is being taken; not only for the benefits that it gives their customers, but also for the marketing clout it immediately provides. This month, we thought we’d go into some of the ways AI is helping create more dynamic software and if it really provides end user value or if it’s kind of a red herring used by developers to position their products better in a more competitive market.

Your business requires you to make certain compromises. Still, when it comes to building a network of vendors that can help you realize your goals, you have to take some time and carefully select the people you want to have long-lasting relationships with because constantly changing vendors can cause plenty of problems for you. In this month’s newsletter, we discuss how to get the most out of your vendor relationships.

Successful businesses need to adjust to changes in the market, what customers want, and new industry trends. This means they have to know their business well and be willing to try new things. Let’s look at six key areas where businesses often make changes to stay successful.

It can be difficult staying productive with all the things that happen day-in and day-out around your business. When your team is productive, it helps you stay focused and organized, and it can make a big difference in how successful you are. This week we break down just how keeping productivity levels high can make or break a business.