Coleman Technologies Blog

It’s easy to fall into the trap that you have to be the entire C-Suite for your business all in one. You should be running your business, not managing its IT infrastructure, and trying to do it all will only pull your focus away from what matters most. Instead of worrying about endless security threats, unpredictable technology costs, and countless tech support questions, you should work with a managed IT provider.

It’s easy in IT to see a large IT invoice and think something needs to be done about it, but have you ever stopped to think about how much lost productivity is costing your business? Chances are, it’s even more than what it costs to receive IT support. Today, we’re exploring this invisible tax you pay due to poor IT performance (and what you can do to stop it).

Is your business technology a source of uncertainty and frustration? Are you constantly reacting to IT problems when you would prefer to proactively leverage technology to drive your business’ growth? This struggle is often the result of the Executive IT Gap, a phenomenon that traps businesses in an endless cycle of reactive, costly, and inefficient technology decisions that slow down growth.

A significant and growing number of small businesses are either actively using AI tools or exploring their potential, motivated by the promise of increased efficiency, cost savings, and gaining a competitive edge.

It's an exciting movement, proving that AI isn't just for huge mega corporations. Small businesses are using AI for everything from generating marketing content and handling customer service inquiries with chatbots to analyzing customer data and automating back-office tasks. The goal is to compete faster and smarter.

How do you know when it’s time to fire one of your vendors? Better yet, how do you know when you’re better off firing your IT vendor to find a better option? These kinds of situations can be stressful, but they’re not impossible. We’re here to help you make the call, as well as to offer a better alternative that saves you time, energy, and money.

Stuff happens, and this stuff can often be bad. That’s an inescapable part of life, especially if you’re trying to run a successful business. That said, the consequences of this bad stuff can usually be minimized—if not mitigated entirely—when you have a proper disaster recovery strategy.

Let’s review what goes into preparing this kind of strategy in the most effective way and what makes it so crucial.

"I don’t need to worry about cybersecurity… my business is too small for hackers to target."

This is one of the most dangerous misconceptions a small business can have. If you believe this, you may not fully understand how modern cyberattacks work. Let’s break down why this mindset can leave your business vulnerable.

Nobody likes getting large support bills from technology companies—especially when they are unexpected. This is the case for both the business owners footing the bill and the employees who might be held responsible for racking up the bill in the first place. This puts SMBs in a bit of an impossible situation; either spend money to keep employees productive, or save money and suffer from productivity issues.

Microsoft's cybersecurity vulnerabilities have been making headlines recently. These lapses in security are causing concern for customers worldwide. The impact of these vulnerabilities is far-reaching. It affects network security and increases the risk of data breaches, causing somewhat of a ripple effect.

More small and medium-sized businesses than ever are seeing AI's potential to transform their operations. However, like any technology, AI has its own set of pros and cons. Let's discuss three major advantages and drawbacks you can expect if using it in your business. Hopefully, it helps you make an informed decision about adopting AI.

With technology being so important for all businesses in at least some capacity, it’s no small wonder that effectively using it (and having someone on-hand to manage it all) is tremendously valuable for any company. This is where a managed service provider (MSP) can be helpful, even for businesses that have a dedicated IT department. All small businesses benefit from working with an MSP.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that the better your relationship is with your employees, the more your business will benefit. Despite this, many businesses today lack trust between their organizational levels. Let’s go over a few simple tips that you can use to help maintain positive feelings amongst your team.

I was meeting with an old colleague the other day. We met over Microsoft Teams to just check in and see how they were doing—no real itinerary, just to check in with a familiar face that I haven’t personally talked to in a few years. They had a little trouble getting into Microsoft Teams, since they were used to Zoom. I patiently smiled and helped them through it, and told them “No worries, it’s always the little differences that complicate things!”

At the time, I said this just to be empathetic. At first, the nerdy computer-geek part of my brain told me that the process to get into a Zoom meeting vs a Teams meeting, from their perspective, is exactly the same. But after the call, I really thought about this small interaction, and you know what? Things have gotten complicated.

So, you want to utilize cloud computing for your business. Making that decision is a good start, but now you need to figure out how the cloud will help accomplish the goals you’ve set for your business. You need to develop a cloud strategy.

Fortunately, we can help.

The business world is always ebbing and flowing with new concepts, ideas, and strategies in the  attempt to innovate. The more technology can be used to do things that help a business run, the more processes can be automated bringing a layer of efficiency that isn’t possible without it. Let’s take a brief look at some of the technology trends that small businesses will be confronted with in 2023. 

Very Small Businesses and Self-Funded Startups

For the very small business—that is the mom-and-pop shop and the sole proprietorship—social media can be the major marketing outlet for your business. In fact, many bootstrapped startups and extremely small businesses will use Facebook as their exclusive hub for marketing outreach. Since these businesses often don’t have the capital to commit to large content-driven marketing initiatives, social media gives them a way to get their brand out there at a modest cost.

The IoT

The Internet of Things has been growing incredibly fast over the past five years, but many small business owners don’t know where it fits. That’s because there are tens of millions of devices that could actually serve some purpose for their businesses and basically have buyer’s paralysis or are skeptical that integrating these tools is going to save them money. Here are some ways that the IoT could be used to do just that.

A Little Background 

One of the biggest risks a business owner needs to address is what needs to happen if there is a situation where their business is disrupted. There has to be a series of actions taken that will allow for a thorough assessment of the situation and a return to productivity. These tasks don’t just solve the problems surrounding an issue, they are a strategy to ensure operational resilience.

Making the Most of What You Have

As states have mandated that businesses either close or move operations offsite for the well-being of their employees and clients, many people seem to have been caught off-guard by the duration of these orders. As a result, many businesses have since shifted from a “shut down and wait it out” strategy to trying to do whatever they can—which, for many, is implementing a remote workforce.

Physical Security

First on our list is the oldest kind of business security, the (sometimes literal) gun behind the counter that helps to dissuade potential attacks. It is only too easy to overlook the fact that data theft can be as simple as someone taking a hard drive, rather than hacking into it. Of course, we aren’t suggesting that all businesses should have an arsenal at the ready. Instead, technology provides assorted alternatives that should be implemented to deter attempted intrusion.