Business owners aren’t perfect. They’re human and sometimes make costly mistakes. If you want to succeed as a business owner, learn from others and try to avoid making bad moves. Be wary of the things you purchase and think twice before parting with your hard-earned money. Here are five mistakes to avoid when investing in new technology.

Spending without finding the perfect fit

Advertisers like to make you believe that the newest technology will solve all your problems. While the latest cloud or virtualization offering is likely to make things better for many companies, they won’t work for everyone. 

Don’t let the flash and hype of new products deceive you. Take time to think about the results you want to achieve with technology. Make a list of your goals and check if they can be fulfilled with your new IT investment. A good IT provider should guide, not confuse you. That provider should see to it that you make the best choice. 

Believing everything will magically work together

As technology evolves, it becomes easier to use. User-friendly products help people work better and faster. However, not all products follow that route, and many business owners wrongly assume that the new technologies they invest in will work well with the other IT systems they already have. This mistaken belief can get them in trouble. 

While many technologies are compatible with one another, those that don’t work together can result in massive and costly downtimes that can cripple your business. So, don’t push your luck. Be smart, do some research, or consult an IT professional before making a purchase. 

Not training your team 

Now that you’ve found the perfect fit technology that will integrate with your current IT, go ahead and purchase it. After that, you think you can relax and let your sparkly new IT solution power your company to new levels of success and profits, right? Wrong! 

Don’t forget that not all employees will be comfortable with your new investment. Nor will everyone know how to use it. That’s the time to consult an IT provider for support and training. If this is not possible, look elsewhere or think twice before buying anything. 

Forgetting your budget

More and more IT solutions are packaged with pay-as-you-go monthly pricing. While this is a great way to help you avoid a large upfront capital investment, implementing too many different technologies quickly without thinking about recurring costs can eat up your money. 

Think carefully before opening your wallet. Do a little research, draft a budget, or get help from a consultant. This will spare you a lot of frustrations. 

Not getting feedback

It’s wise to consult employees who will be using the new technology on a daily basis. Do this even before you make a purchase. 

Remember that not everyone may feel at home with the new product. They might even discover some downsides you aren’t aware of. Talk to people to get important feedback, or you may find it difficult to convince them to use it. 

Need an IT professional to create a complete technology solution for your business? We’re happy to serve you.

Source: Pronto

Smartphones have become such a vital component of the modern lifestyle to the point that we are always glued to them. And as our time with our gadgets increases, the need to recharge them while we’re on the go also increases. When you’re nowhere near your charger and your juice runs out, that public charging kiosk can look pretty promising. But what you might not know is that recharging phones through public chargers can make you a victim of “juice jacking.” If you’re not sure what that is, read on to find out what makes it dangerous.

What’s juice jacking?

While newer phones have ditched the cable charger and moved on to wireless charging, older models still rely on power cords to transmit power to the mobile device. The problem with this setup is that the cable used for charging can also be used for transferring data. This setup is easily exploitable, and trust opportunists to do just that. When you use a public cable, they gain user access by leveraging the USB data/power cable to illegitimately access your phone’s data and/or inject malicious code into your device.

Attacks can be an invasion of privacy: your phone pairs with a computer concealed within the charging kiosk, and information such as private photos and contact information are transferred to a malicious computer. The computer can then access a host of personal information on the device, including your address book, notes, photos, music, SMS database, and keyboard cache. It can even initiate a full backup of your phone, all of which can be accessed wirelessly anytime.

But attacks can also be in the form of malicious code directly injected into your phone. A public USB hub can be used to transmit malware-ridden programs or tracking applications to the user’s mobile phone. All it takes is one minute of being plugged into a harmful charger.

How to avoid juice jacking

The most effective precaution is simply not charging your phone using a third-party system. Here are some tips to help you avoid using a public kiosk charger:

• Keep your battery full. Make it a habit to charge your phone at your home and office when you are not actively using it or are just sitting at your desk working. When unexpected circumstances happen and you get stuck outside, your phone has juice.
• Carry a personal charger. Chargers have become very small and portable, from USB cables to power banks. Always have one in your bag so you can charge your phone securely from a power outlet or on the go using a power bank.
• If possible, carry a backup battery. If you’re not keen on bringing a spare charger or power bank, you can opt to carry a spare battery if your device has a removable battery, or a battery case (a phone case that doubles as a battery).
• Lock your phone. Without the proper PIN code, fingerprint scan, or face ID, your phone cannot be paired with the device it’s connected to.
• Use power-only USB cables. These cables are missing the two wires necessary for data transmission and have only the two wires for power transmission. They will charge your device, but data transfer is impossible.

Technology threats are all around us. Even the tiniest detail like charging your phone at a kiosk charger could affect the security of your device.

Looking to learn more about today’s security and threats? Contact us today and see how we can help.

Source: Pronto

We all undeniably have hectic schedules, and they’re made even worse with unorganized meetings, impromptu playdates, and unscheduled yoga classes. To move or cancel appointments, your clients would generally have to pick up the phone and call someone, which can be a drag. But with Microsoft Bookings, clients can schedule and effortlessly manage appointments. In case one isn’t enough, here are four more reasons to give it a go:

Visibility

Bid adieu to the days of scribbling on post-its and frantically going through your schedule to find out where you’re heading for lunch. Microsoft Bookings provides you with a unique webpage that is compatible on both desktops and mobile devices. Here, customers can select times and dates based on current availability — simply enter the contact information and then book it! The system fully automates the process of managing your appointments.

No more rain checks

Cancellations and missed appointments mean wasted time slots unless you’re able to fill them up with new bookings. Avoid lost income by controlling how much advance notice is required to make a cancellation. With Bookings, appointments appear immediately in staff calendars and can be added or revised by customers in their own personal calendars. Additionally, a confirmation email is automatically sent to the customer, which is then followed by another automatic email reminder before the appointment time. The web page also offers a rescheduling service: customers can simply click on the link on the confirmation email and pick a time that they’re more comfortable with.

Synchronization

Once completed, the booking is then synced to a centralized calendar where businesses are given the option to reschedule, cancel, or reassign the appointment to other staff members as they see fit.

If you do decide to reassign it to staff members, Bookings offers a nifty feature known as “split view.” This shows which staff members are booked at which times, and you can compare everyone’s schedules side-by-side. The appointments are synced not only to your calendar but to the staff members’ calendars as well. Moreover, this versatile system accommodates Office 365, Outlook, and even Google Calendar, so clients and staff can keep whatever calendaring service they prefer.

Double duty

Appointment setting might be the primary goal of Bookings, but the system can also be utilized to build your company’s customer list. Once customers input their information into the system, it automatically creates contact entries for those customers. The contact card contains personal information such as your customer’s name, address, phone number, and email address.

And, as your company grows, you can add more staff members as well as create additional booking pages for free. Furthermore, staff members aren’t required to have Office 365 subscriptions to be a part of the service.

Efficient tech resources aren’t enough to maintain a successful business anymore. To really stand out from competitors, you need comprehensive appointment management. Give us a call if you need any questions answered or issues addressed We’re more than happy to help.

Source: Pronto

Today’s businesses rely heavily on data to run their day-to-day operations. They use it for everything from building client relationships to developing marketing strategies and so much more. But without data backups, businesses stand to suffer from major losses and even end up closing up for good should any natural or human-made disaster occur. With that in mind, you should develop a robust backup plan for your business, which includes implementing any or all of the following solutions.

When it comes to data backups, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. As such, you’ll want to consider the pros and cons of each before making a choice.

USB flash drives

USB flash drives are basically miniature hard drives that you connect to your computer using a USB port. Aside from being inexpensive, USB flash drives are also portable. They can be used to back up data from several computers.

However, because of their size and portability, USB flash drives are easy to misplace, which is why they’re not recommended for long-term storage of crucial information. They are best used for intermediate backups.

External hard drives

As a backup storage medium, external hard drives have the lowest cost per gigabyte compared to other backup devices. Since an external hard drive has the same plug-and-play functionality as USB flash drives, you can just plug it into your computer and start selecting the files you want to back up. The transfer rate is also very fast, and you can back up a large amount of data within seconds.

One of the drawbacks of using an external hard drive is that you’ll need to update your backups on a regular basis, or else new files won’t be included. There’s also the risk of the device being misused or stolen. For example, an employee might use the drive for storing personal files or take it with them when they quit.

Network attached storage (NAS)

NAS is a dedicated server for storing data, and it can also be used as an email server. It has its own IP address and can operate either wired or wirelessly. NAS offers data redundancy, which means it will generate a backup of your backups, so you can ensure your files are fully protected.

On the downside, NAS can’t be scaled beyond the limits of the system. This means you have to purchase additional hard drive bays when you need more capacity. You also have to take full responsibility for data security if you’re implementing NAS.

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is becoming more and more popular among businesses of all sizes because of its many benefits. It gives users anytime, anywhere access to data and lets them work with the most current hardware and up-to-date software. It’s also affordable since businesses pay for what they use only. Additionally, cloud computing is convenient, because service providers take care of the installation, management, and maintenance processes.

However, some cloud service providers don’t employ sufficient security measures on their systems, so your data could be exposed to potential cybersecurity threats. For this reason, cloud storage is not always the ideal solution for medical practices, law firms, and other organizations that handle sensitive data. If they want to use cloud storage, they must find a service provider that implements top-of-the-line cybersecurity protocols and specializes in data regulations compliance.

Choosing the best backup solution has far-reaching impacts on your business. Each method or device has trade-offs, which is why you need to select the one best suited to your business’s needs. Enlist the help of our experts to ensure you make the right choice.

Source: Pronto

Data security and privacy should be every small business owner’s top priority in this day when cybercriminals are on the loose. The good news is you don’t have to be a tech genius to make it happen. Here are practical ways to shield your company from cyberattacks. 

Cover your webcam

If Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, former FBI Director James Comey, and National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden all believe their webcams could be compromised, there’s no reason you should feel safe. They’re not overreacting because of some ruthless paparazzi that’s hounding them. It’s a fact that cybercriminals can use your webcam to spy on you. 

Though it might sound like a scene from an action movie or crime thriller, this has actually happened on several occasions. Hackers do this either to satisfy their voyeuristic tendencies or, more commonly, to steal personal information. This is a very real threat with disturbing repercussions. 

With your webcam, cybercriminals can examine your surroundings, determine your location, as well as spy on the people you’re with. They can use this information to hold you ransom and threaten to broadcast your most intimate and vulnerable moments if you don’t pay up. 

Fortunately, guarding yourself against this danger is easy. Covering your webcam should do the trick. You can use regular tape or you can purchase a cheap webcam cover online. 

Use a privacy shield

Think of privacy guards as those iPhone screen protectors but with an anti-snooping feature. These are thin covers you put on your computer, laptop, or smartphone screen to limit viewing angles. Once installed, anyone trying to look at your screen from anywhere — except straight-on — sees nothing. 

Privacy filters are commonly used to protect work devices that display or contain critical files with sensitive data or confidential information. However, less sensitive, personal devices are still vulnerable to “shoulder surfing” — the act of peeking at someone else’s screen, with or without ill intent. This is the reason we recommend using these protectors on all devices. 

Get a physical authentication key

Requiring more than one set of credentials to access sensitive resources has become the standard practice for established online services. With two-factor authentication in place, you can gain access to your account only after you’ve entered an authentication code. This is something that the website sends to your smartphone once you’ve entered your account credentials. 

Until recently, two-factor authentication relied mostly on text messages sent to mobile phones. But professionals now realize that phones can be hijacked to redirect text messages. Moreover, authentication codes can be stolen, or users can be tricked into entering these codes via a convincing phishing website. 

If you’re looking for authentication services that can’t be hijacked, stolen, or lost, your best bet is a USB or Bluetooth key that you can carry always. This means nobody — not even you — will be able to access your account without the physical key. Talk about ultimate security at your fingertips. 

If you need help setting up two-factor authentication or IT security services, contact our experts and have peace of mind.

Source: Pronto