If you truly want to run your business effectively, it all starts with understanding how its costs break down. If you are armed with this knowledge, you can make better decisions about solution procurement and operations management. Let’s examine how you can cut costs without harming your business in the process.
2023 is right around the corner, and if the past few years are any indication, it will be rife with challenges for businesses to overcome. Let’s consider some of these challenges, and what technologies can help minimize or even eliminate them.
It is a legitimate question whether something is actually art if it isn’t created by a human being. That’s before you are exposed to it, however. In fact, an AI created a piece of art that was crowned the winner at the Colorado State Fair. Let’s take a look at AI art in the context of this competition.
Last time, we broke down how much data is stored in a typical book, and how much data every book in the Library of Congress contains. This time, let’s really show you what that data consists of, and some other really neat comparisons to put things into perspective. Buckle up!
For all the events that have made business more difficult over the past several years, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that businesses have been more open to change the way they do things if it means that they can meet the demands placed on them by the market. These days, there are some technologies that will be a big part of business headed forward, but you may think that they are out of your business’ price range. Think again. Let’s take a look at three robust technologies and how you can use them in your business.
Do you ever think about how incredible technology is? In a world where it’s easy to take advantage of technology and devices that were practically inconceivable just a few short decades ago, it’s really amazing to just look at how far we’ve come, and how something so small can fit so much information.
Let’s review some recommended technologies for you to embrace as you reopen your business.
First things first—while businesses resume their operations, the chaos that will predictably ensue is the perfect time for cybercriminals to take their shot. Therefore, you need to make it a priority that all your hardware and software solutions are fully updated or upgraded as improvements are made available. In doing so, you make sure that the tools your team will use are as secure as they can be against the latest threats.
Many advancements in technology have been direct responses to the health concerns of the time, and we aren’t exaggerating when we say that these advancements have historically been the ones to trigger massive societal and cultural changes. Today, we have a virus completely dictating the way that we interact with one another: necessitating social distancing, halting travel, shutting down businesses, and otherwise isolating us as we all work to avoid becoming another casualty. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are now the busiest places, and the economy has taken a major hit.
Blockchain is defined as a distributed ledger system that creates a single encrypted and unalterable file whenever any transaction is made to help preserve its continuity. As every device involved in the blockchain helps to store it, the blockchain itself is unprecedentedly transparent. This allows business systems to be both more accountable, and secure.
Let’s return for a moment to how the blockchain works—each time a transaction of any kind is made, be it adding new data or revising some that already existed, a new “node” (think of it as another link in the chain) is created to document the transaction and encrypt it. As a result, you wind up with a running record of reliable data. As you might imagine, this offers itself quite well to many industries.
With the importance of the record-keeping that these organizations maintain being so apparent, it only makes sense that blockchain is used to automatically keep track of where funds are being moved.
Real estate processes are notoriously intricate and confusing. Blockchain provides an option that could make the entire experience of buying and selling real estate much more transparent.
Tragically, wills and inheritances can be very hotly contested, and their veracity may be called into question. The transparent and immutable logs of the blockchain could eventually lead to many fights being averted in the future.
Elections now face more scrutiny than ever before, as votes are counted, recounted, contested, and recounted again. Using the blockchain could help to eliminate most challenges and issues that call the integrity of an election into question.
Managing all the moving pieces of a supply chain could be made much simpler by integrating blockchain technology. Goods and resources could be easily tracked and directed where they need to go, with confirmation when they arrive at their destination.
Communications have gone digital, with unprecedented numbers sent and received each day. As more people than ever rely on these communications for a variety of reasons, data sharing needs to be more reliably secure. The blockchain is well suited for this task, as each transfer of data remains fully transparent, while the data contained in the nodes remains undisclosed. This technology can even be safely used to hold parties to their shared agreements by facilitating proper compensation once certain requirements are met. These capabilities will likely lead to advancements in:
Consider how many files any educational institution needs to maintain and verify, and the amount of personal information shared in these records. Blockchain makes it so that these paper files are no longer necessary, while also making it easier to verify registration, management, and financial aid-related data.
Any patient who needs to see multiple physicians knows the frustration of working with providers who operate in different healthcare networks. However, healthcare has a good track record with embracing innovative technology solutions. Introducing blockchain could ultimately lead to self-managed healthcare records.
There are many ways that stock exchange processes could be made better with the assistance of blockchain technologies. Two clear improvements: convenience, and of course security.
Many states are still overly reliant on paper documents, which are very easy to alter and otherwise manipulate (never mind steal). Shifting to digital documents that are supported by blockchain could do a lot to reduce fraud, ensure accountability, and generally improve security.
IoT devices are overwhelmingly insecure, but if they were decentralized through the blockchain, some of this insecurity could be resolved.
To learn more about blockchain technology, feel free to call Coleman Technologies to discuss it, as well as the options you currently have to leverage for your business. Reach out at (604) 513-9428 today!
The first technology that anyone who's anyone in the technology industry has their eyes on is 5G. If you were to think of a technology that would transform business, 5G might not be on the top of your list, but, rest assured, it will completely alter society, so businesses will be affected. What is 5G? It’s the long-awaited fifth generation of wireless connectivity that is promising ubiquitous gigabit speeds for everyone. While most of the hubbub surrounding 5G has been about sating people’s need for download speeds and autonomous vehicles, the technology will bring big changes for businesses.
As far as the business goes, 5G will reduce latency to the point where all of the smart devices that have been introduced over the past half-decade can effectively communicate. This presents more dynamic options to use smart technology for business purposes in and out of the office. Since data transmission will see less latency and higher speeds, data and services should be seamless.
At CES, plenty was made of 5G as a mobile-centric technology, but a lot of the technology that was on display at CES shifted past the smartphone and onto devices that are aimed at improving business. Cutting edge computers, apps, networking equipment, and things (a whole lot of things) aimed at impressing CIOs and decision makers with advanced functionality and speed, were on display throughout the event. From supply chain management to transportation to (of course) mobility, the innovators at CES touched on a large cross-section of improvements 5G is going to make for businesses and at home.
Businesses have been pretty aggressive over the past couple of years implementing tools that claim to have some type of machine learning or artificial intelligence to improve many aspects of their business. The technology has been used liberally to improve customer service, optimize operations and logistics, even to predict customer behavior. Even in its relative infancy, the applications for these technologies seem to be vast.
At CES, visitors got a look at all types of new ways that businesses are going about using these technologies. One of the most impressive uses of these technologies is in new logistics tools. Between the use of autonomous vehicles that speed up businesses and lead to fewer shipping costs, and computer vision that provides transparency in the acquisition and viability of resources, AI is at the center of business-specific applications that will make it to market in 2020.
At an event called the Consumer Electronics Show, it stands to reason that it would be a treasure trove of new and useful technologies (or in the case of CES 2020, technology-fueled “things”) on display. The consumerization of IT has been ongoing for the past several years, and businesses have reaped the rewards of this.
At CES, the whole event is dedicated to pushing the consumerization of IT. New solutions to problems, new products incorporating innovative technology, and strategic technology rollouts aimed to take advantage of other innovations were all over CES 2020. New computers, including the first look at some 5G-capable ones, are some of the more noteworthy of the event; and, are definitely aimed to catch the attention of CIOs and other business decision makers.
With so many prototypes being unveiled at CES, it’s hard to maintain that this technology will even make it to market, let alone be available any time soon. If you want to learn more about CES 2020, visit the event’s website at https://www.ces.tech/. For more great technology-centric articles aimed to help your business, return to our blog soon.
Before we discuss what the last decade brought us, I wanted to remind everyone just how limitless innovations are. Many years ago, many of these inventions or technologies seemed unrealistic for the times.
Let’s go through the past decade’s biggest hits, as well as what we might see in years to come.
While many technologies were introduced in the 2000s, the 2010s saw these technologies used in bigger, more innovative ways. Let’s take a brief look at the past ten years and what improvements we saw.
While 4G was actually first developed in 2009, but primarily spreading in the early 2010s, 4G wireless changed the capabilities of wireless data transmission. As a result, further innovations were made, encouraging (and sometimes forcing) technologies to improve. The companies that worked in real-time and heavily depended on application deployment were suddenly given the tools they needed to really take root. Furthermore, 4G was responsible for the viability of many of today’s biggest players, including Spotify, Instagram, Uber, and Snapchat - among many others.
Can you believe that the iPad has only been around for about a decade? It was the first of many mass-produced consumer tablets, and it took other companies a few years to catch up as they followed Apple’s lead. Powered by iOS, and featuring a large screen, the explosive initial sales of the iPad cemented the tablet’s reputation as a useful device, both at home and in the workplace.
In June of 2012, the longstanding wireless networking standard was upgraded for the first time in years. This sixth standard allowed a new age of connectivity, permitting a far larger number of devices to be connected to the Internet.
As we suggested in the section on 4G, streaming was growing in popularity, and it is safe to say that the first Chromecast was partially responsible for that. While it may seem practically ubiquitous today, integrated casting was revolutionary upon its release… and in many ways, it changed how businesses could communicate ideas. Conference rooms everywhere are now equipped to work with this (or similar) technologies.
Today, every major technology brand has its own take on the virtual assistant. Apple has the OG - Siri - while Microsoft has Cortana, Google has its Google Assistant, Amazon has Alexa, and Samsung has Bixby. As such, the development of this technology spurred a new competitive spirit among these rivals, to the benefit of the user. With all of these companies working to create advanced, better assistants to sway consumers, machine learning has improved exponentially through these efforts.
Despite largely flying under the radar, one of the most impactful advancements of the decade is the development of the USB Type C connector. With the exception of Apple, it has been accepted as the industry’s standard connection for power and data transmission, and can therefore be found on most post-2015 devices.
As they attempted to put together a mobile OS, and their redesigned Windows 8.1 OS failing to replace the aging Windows 7, Windows 10 was developed to standardize the Windows experience and modernize it for longevity. Now, Windows 10 has been established as the standard, running on 64 percent of all PCs in existence, a number that will grow even higher as Windows 7 is finally put out to pasture.
While there is an argument that, technically speaking, the Internet of Things is more of a 2010s development, the 2020s are poised to be the decade that Internet-connected devices are truly viable tools, with the necessary integrations, functionality, and (most critically) security finally in place. This is predicted much for the same reason that mobile technology took off last decade - the fact that wireless networks improved.
Frankly, there’s so much more we have yet to accomplish, as the near future is poised to turn what was very recently science fiction into fact. For instance, the next 10 years will likely see the following technologies come more into the mainstream:
With certain areas currently rolling out the 5G wireless standard, and more guaranteed to follow, there is hope of a fundamental shift in how people can use their technology. As if today’s networks weren’t already burdened by our data demands, we are only increasing these demands as time passes. However, 5G potentially promises a variety of benefits - including ubiquitous access, powered by broadcast sites that focus on delivering performance to each user rather than to a given neighborhood. Today’s 5G users have experienced speeds measured in gigabits, so just imagine this capability spreading.
While the phrase “artificial intelligence” has been somewhat inflated by popular culture, the more practical use of artificial intelligence is slated to increase by a significant amount in the 2020s. Today, neural networks are already in use as a means to recognize data patterns, assisting in automation processes. With the amount of data increasing exponentially, these neural networks are bound to see exponential benefits, and we will be able to put AI to use in more complex and dynamic applications.
Like we said, the Internet of Things is only going to grow as time passes, and the many technologies and solutions that are included under this umbrella term will finally have the wireless capabilities needed to make a real impact. Cities will be made smart, using AI to increase the efficiency of crucial services and eliminate waste. Driverless cars will make commuting and traveling safer, and crucial systems in finance, healthcare, and infrastructure will be improved.
There has been a notable trend toward increasing how immersive our technology is, and that will culminate in something known as mixed reality. As the predicted replacement to today’s mobile platforms, MR would provide interactive overlays in real-time for all kinds of applications, ultimately reducing data strains. As a result, we could see a variety of applications be completely revolutionized, including education, entertainment, and social interaction.
Just as it did throughout the last decade, technology is sure to transform throughout the coming one. What innovations do you hope to see? Let us know in the comments!
You’ve probably heard of blockchain before. It is widely known as the technology that makes cryptocurrency possible. Software developers have been working to use the encrypted distributed ledger system to create applications that can help a business secure its processes and create situational transparency.
Thus far blockchain’s applications are mostly security-related, but the applications for the technology are limitless. Right now, a business can start using blockchain to boost the security of their accounts-receivable process, for contract transparency, and aid the efficiency of their supply chain.
Automation has been the name of the game for some time. Today, however, there are more devices than ever to build automated systems with. The smart-technology boom called the Internet of Things (IoT), coupled with advancements in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), is giving businesses more options in which to enhance efficiency.
Business Process Automation (BPA) incorporates these technologies into business management systems to help a business be able to accomplish more. This boost in productivity can often be pretty obvious on the bottom line.
With technology making collaboration much easier, businesses have begun to promote collaborative efforts. Today, there are several options for the modern business. Businesses are using complete productivity suites like Microsoft Office 365 and Google’s G Suite for collaborative work. They also have begun instituting new communications tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams that couple useful messaging software with dozens of application integrations.
Moreover, businesses are significantly expanding the technology they use to make their BPA strategy more comprehensive. Bringing in interdepartmental collaboration tools that include customer resource management (CRM) is helping businesses operate smarter and more efficiently.
2020 could be your business’ year to shine. By integrating some of these emerging tools, you could create the efficient operations boost you are seeking. Give us a call at (604) 513-9428 today to learn more about what Coleman Technologies can do for your company.
Information technology systems are the foundation of the many processes that a lot of businesses rely on. These systems enable you to store data efficiently, putting it to use and interfacing with it collaboratively - but as these systems are so crucial, they must also be properly monitored and maintained.
After all, without its technology, a business that relies on said technology isn’t going to be able to accomplish much.
This has been a driving force behind innovations to technology - boosting reliability, introducing transformative tools, and advancing both business and society at large. However, since this isn’t particularly easy to put into practice, various industry thought leaders have been actively attempting to transform a variety of considerations, including:
This has effectively been accomplished by developing solutions to meet assessed needs. As a result, new solutions are being thought up to help expand IT from its role in support to actively promoting key business tasks.
Cognitive computing is the processing of business data through a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other powerful computing resources. With these systems, patterns can be recognized, data mined, and language processed far more efficiently than without. With more information, businesses that leverage cognitive computing can see considerable benefits:
Using these technologies also allows you to support various other aspects of your operations, both internally (filling out your operational structure) and externally (automating customer retention efforts). By making a business more “intelligent,” these investments can provide a competitive advantage, as well as more diverse means of generating revenues.
A data breach can be catastrophic for a business - and attacks happen far too often today to be ignored. Quite a few tools have been developed to help block out these threats, as well as improve internal data security initiatives.
Of these tools, many leverage AI and machine learning to adapt a cybersecurity policy to better match the threats a business contends with. However, these systems aren’t impervious to threats, which means that business owners need to identify their potential risks, including:
It is also important to mention that this list is far from comprehensive - there are many more threats out there to resist, avoid, and otherwise defend against. Today’s tools are the most effective way to accomplish this.
To learn more about how you can adopt technology that helps your business succeed, reach out to the IT professionals at Coleman Technologies.
With global spending on IoT research and integration reaching $745 billion in 2019, the IoT is primed to be one of the largest single industries in the world in the future. Individuals, businesses, and governments are looking at the IoT for solutions to their problems. After all, the more information people have, the better decisions can be made. From the outset, it was said that this technology will transform the way we interact with machines and the way they will interact with each other, and only a few short years into a worldwide implementation, that mantra has proven to be true. Let’s look at where the IoT is growing most.
The huge annual jumps in IoT spending is largely driven by manufacturers, transportation, and utilities. Industrial IoT solutions provide companies and municipalities, alike, the link between their cloud-based software systems and their analysts, salesmen, and decision makers. This relationship is tenuous, however, and is closely monitored as a result. If a huge IoT strategy breaks even once, confidence in the platform is destroyed, leaving it an unreliable solution, regardless of the strengths of the technology.
Manufacturers and process managers that utilize IoT solutions absolutely need their systems to be as reliable as possible. That means security, which is the number one improvement that the next phase of IoT has to make. For years, IoT was only somewhat trustworthy because of the lack of integrated security many IoT devices were manufactured with. Today, with security an absolute must for the major undertakings it is being used for, security has improved, but only slightly. A dedication to creating IoT devices that have hardware and software systems that are secure and reliable will dictate just the ceiling of IoT effectiveness.
One of the most intriguing places the IoT has been utilized thus far is in the integration of automated utility systems inside what has been termed, “the smart city”. The smart city uses what are known as low power IoT connections. These devices deliver low bandwidth and power saving features that are perfectly suited to asset monitoring. They can be implemented for a variety of uses, including:
Unlike IoT-connected consumer goods, every IoT device deployed in a smart city would have a purpose that is beyond convenience. Every device would be placed to achieve a goal, improve the usability, longevity, and management of infrastructure, boosting resident safety and improving their access to services, cutting costs and limiting energy use, improving communications, and more.
One thing is for sure, the next phase of IoT implementation is going to challenge conventional thinking and deliver solutions that only a short time ago, were only imaginary. At Coleman Technologies we find technology fascinating. For more great technology information about innovative new tech, return to our blog regularly.
Perhaps most famously associated with cryptocurrencies, there are various applications in business that blockchain can be of use in. Really, blockchain is of great use in any situation where a record of changes needs to be kept, as the blockchain creates a record of these changes each time a new block is added to the chain - hence the name.
Originally utilized primarily by the financial industries, the utility of the blockchain has expanded to be of considerable use to far more verticals, with no signs of slowing.
In the past few years, we’ve gone from fearing artificially intelligent machines like HAL 9000 to carrying around a relatively rudimentary version of the sentient computer in our pockets. While our current machines and devices are (thank goodness) far less capable than HAL, they are plenty capable of assisting business processes - largely thanks to machine learning.
Via AI, directed by machine learning, your solutions can carry out predetermined processes and make informed decisions based on the input they receive. As a result, your business can take care of some if its tasks automatically, leaving your team free to focus on other responsibilities.
While augmented reality and virtual reality have been largely associated with entertainment purposes, the business world has started to embrace them for numerous purposes, both in terms of their internal processes and their marketing efforts. Furthermore, with today’s youth being exposed to these kinds of interfaces, they will be more familiar with them when they reach working age (and will be able to use them more productively as a result).
Has your business begun to implement any of these technologies in its workflows - even the most basic varieties? Coleman Technologies can help you do more. Reach out to us at (604) 513-9428 to learn more!
Artificial Intelligence
AI might be primitive in a lot of ways at the moment, but this doesn’t mean that it’s not growing in popularity. Machines can get smarter the way that humans do when they perform the same function several times, but unlike humans, machines don’t have various emotions to hold them back. Here are a few ways that a business can leverage AI to its advantage:
Businesses might have expensive operational issues that demand AI-integrated solutions to handle them, thus expanding the market and allowing for rapid adoption. Automation in particular is being adopted at an alarming rate, and this is driving the demand for artificial intelligence.
Blockchain
Blockchain has been making headlines in the news, fueled by the cryptocurrency fads that have utilized the technology. Blockchain creates a public ledger that is distributed rather than centralized, with each block storing all of the data that is relevant to a transaction. Once this data is captured, it can’t be altered without changing all data that has come afterward. This presents considerable data security benefits.
Some businesses hope to use this increased security to their benefit using a more distributed system. The more people who utilize the blockchain, the more we learn about it, meaning more tools are created to help organizations leverage the blockchain. Here are some of the ways that organizations can utilize the blockchain:
Blockchain is so popular that even Oracle’s head of blockchain development claims that half of businesses will find a use for blockchain in the next three years.
5G
The past 40 years have shown that wireless technology has a lot of opportunity to improve. Wireless broadband will see an increase from the 4G used today to 5G. In fact, it could potentially change the world. Data speeds could reach as high as 1GB/second or higher, giving many businesses access to the following benefits:
Innovation will drive businesses to adopt faster technologies than ever before, and Qualcomm has found that 5G will become a “general purpose technology” in the near future, used so much that it will be akin to electricity or vehicles.
Virtual Reality
The consensus is that virtual reality is pretty neat, but not practical in the business environment. Unfortunately, this is far from the actual reality of the situation, as hardware and software advances have given organizations the means to use virtual reality in ways previously unheard of. VR is great for immersing users in virtual environments that can be used for practically any purpose, including training simulations, talent management, product design, and shared experience.
What are some other emerging technologies that you think will be helpful for businesses in the near future? Let us know in the comments.
After nearly 30 years of development, VR has been adopted by a miniscule number of companies. It has, for the most part, made the biggest difference in the entertainment industry, where Samsung and Google have a lot of influence. Sony has also established itself as a major player in the VR gaming industry with its Playstation 4. In terms of business, however, these options aren’t necessarily feasible of beneficial.
Two of the most competitive options in the commercial virtual reality space are the HTC Vive (and Vive Pro) and the Oculus Rift. Oculus is owned by Facebook and has led in VR sales, while the HTC Vive and Vive Pro provides a platform for high-end computing systems that are capable of using VR. These two systems work together to provide high-end VR experiences, even if it’s mostly for gaming.
These VR options give users the ability to bring themselves into a virtual world, thus providing developers with great opportunities to build out software to capitalize on it. The applications built in VR give users the opportunity to explore the earth and space in a way that can immerse them in a simulated reality.
The future of VR is leaning more in the direction of reality; unlike great journeys or expeditions to places like the moon or the bottom of the sea, VR will be used to create educational resources and training software.
Some manufacturers have already begun to anticipate this shift, using services like Microsoft’s Mixed Reality (MR) devices with hopes of business integration in 2020 a possibility. While not true virtual reality, this platform integrates virtual elements into reality, providing business professionals with great new options to achieve their goals. It’s safe to say that businesses will find some use for these virtual sandboxes to either improve performance or work out daring new ways to accomplish tasks.
What are your thoughts on VR? Let us know in the comments and be sure to subscribe to our blog.
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.
Extension Restrictions
One of Chrome’s largest advantages over its competition has to be its library of add-on extensions. Unfortunately, any kind of functionality with these additional “programs” can lead to security concerns. Google has had to slow down the production of extensions to create new requirements for developers to adhere to. One example is how cryptocurrency continues to be a major talking point, prompting extensions to include cryptocurrency mining and cryptojacking in their features. Google is shutting down these supplemental programs, as well as generally holding developers to higher standards than they previously were. It now demands that developer accounts be protected by two-factor authentication, as well as paying closer attention to apps that require lots of permissions or host their code remotely.
Security Measures
Chrome 70 is also packing in all kinds of new security features to keep phishing attacks away from end users. In particular, Chrome is trying to push education of its native password management tools, as well as warn users when the links they are about to access aren’t secure. In essence, this simply states that websites need to be secured if they want visitors, reinforcing the fact that websites need to prioritize security these days.
Login Concerns
While some changes have been accepted with open arms, others… not so much. While Chrome has allowed users to use the browser without logging into the browser, some have noticed that Chrome appears to log a user in, even if they are only using one service out of the many provided. This is primarily an issue because Google could potentially share the user’s data (think browsing history), which is not something that users traditionally take lightly. In the time since then, Google has announced that Chrome isn’t necessarily logging users into Chrome--it’s more of an in-between measure to show a user which of their accounts is currently logged in.
As with any new solution, there will be roadblocks and concerns that users might be faced with during the experimentation phase. What kind of experiences have you had with Chrome 70 so far? Let us know in the comments.
Innovation
Before we tell you how innovation may hurt your business, we’ll talk a little bit about how it is absolutely essential. Business is, for most companies, a very human endeavor. Humans that do the same thing day-in and day-out, don’t take all that long to get proficient at it. This proficiency, if not tested can soon turn into complacency, but if it is tested too much, it can turn into productivity-sapping frustration. Innovation is the process of renewal. Taking something that has worked, and making it work even better.
A constant need for renewal fuels the technology industry. Take, for example, a legacy computing system. A business can still utilize it because it knows what to expect. It’s been using the applications and the software for quite a while. Since it creates no new problems, and the management of it is routine, it works for your business, until it begins to cause other problems.
How could it be then, that this kind of unquestionable efficiency is actually hurting your business?
Well, the answer is pretty standard. With solutions available that take less capital to maintain, are available on newer technologies, and enhance your workers’ ability to be collaborative/productive, the expectation would be that embracing new technology systems will actually cost the business less than maintaining and supporting a legacy system. The legacy system will eventually be untenable because it will be so expensive to maintain, or, it will lose effectiveness. Either reason suggests innovation is an inevitability.
Innovation Betrayal
We’ve already established how serious business owners (and other decisions makers) need to be innovative in their procurement and deployment of business-class solutions to get more out of their business investments. What happens when the innovations they choose do the opposite? What if everything they’ve been told by industry leaders, by mentors, and by their vendors turned out to be completely ineffective?
What if by innovating some of their IT, waste and inefficiency spiked? What if the end result of a dedication to accepting new hardware and other solutions is that capital, that could be spent elsewhere (or, to maintain systems that worked properly for some time), is completely wasted? How can you justify taking capital from a functioning system and leaving your staff with a shiny, new system that doesn’t deliver the same effective computing platform (or operational effectiveness) that their old system did?
We all know that supporting a legacy computing platform is not just costly, it is risky. With the thousands of threats out there just looking to feast on unprotected, network-attached systems, upgrading to more secure systems that don’t need as much diligent oversight should likely be a priority of every business.
How do you make these two concepts play nice? One way is to virtualize. In the past, legacy applications were a major problem for IT administrators, but nowadays, there are solutions that make legacy application virtualization not only possible, but efficient. That way, you’ll be able to maintain the use of your legacy applications, but host them on a public or private cloud platform. This presents any organization with several benefits that include:
It may seem ironic that, by using some of today’s most dynamic technologies, you won’t have to move off of your old software systems, but that is the case. To virtualize your data, your applications, and any other part of your business’ computing systems the IT professionals at Coleman Technologies can help. Our technicians can provide you with the information and resources you need to successfully move your locally-hosted applications to the cloud, whether you choose to host that locally or not.
Customer Relationships
Another way that businesses have improved the way they do business through innovation is by overhauling the way that they handle their customer relationships. If your business has found success by pressing the flesh and getting out and having face-to-face relationships with customers and prospects, you shouldn’t change that now. However, today there are solutions that can make those face-to-face relationships more valuable.
By integrating technology solutions designed to help you better manage your customer relationships, you can subsidize those face-to-face relationships with automated correspondence and other services designed to promote enhancement to your organization’s sales and support. One solution is called Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
A CRM integrates all facets of your business together with one piece of software, not only improving customer relations, but also streamlining processes for sales, productivity, and support. By having all the information your team needs in one simple-to-use solution, they can produce more, provide better support, and collaborate better than ever before.
Another technology that is working to improve customer relationships is social media. There are dozens of different social media sites for a business to consider, but depending on the industry your business services, you may be able to get away with minimizing your social media presence and still have it work to enhance your relationships with customers and prospects. The major social networks like Facebook and Twitter can be of great benefit for businesses to promote their brand and interact with customers.
At Coleman Technologies, we help businesses just like yours do more with the use of technology. Our managed IT services work to proactively manage your business’ IT to ensure that you are experiencing the technology in the way it is designed to be experienced; and, that your company gets the most out of it. For more information about how Coleman Technologies can help you improve your business, call us today at (604) 513-9428.
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Coleman Technologies Inc.
20178 96 Avenue, C400
Langley, British Columbia V1M 0B2
Operations Center
6600 Chase Oaks Blvd, Suite 100 Plano
TX 75023
