"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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
As businesses have strict cost considerations to take into account, it is likely that automation will grow in popularity. While perhaps more expensive to initially implement, automated solutions can easily provide a return on investment by clearing schedules of the annoying (if necessary) repetitive tasks that otherwise eat up your human employees’ time. This combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence is known as Robotic Process Automation and enables businesses to greatly reduce how often human employees need to interfere in these tasks.
Some professionals have been hesitant to invest in AI-driven solutions, primarily due to incomplete algorithms and the negative opinion towards “replacing human jobs with robots.” However, artificial intelligence has seen some success in reducing HR costs through its inclusion in some software, and so RPA is experiencing considerable growth.
Furthermore, many of the solutions available today can be used in more simple applications, including the improvement of communications, reducing process inefficiency, and eliminating redundancy.
“Smart” devices are quickly becoming the new norm, even in the business environment. Many establishments are directing their budgets toward devices meant to improve security, evaluate utility usage, manage supply chains, and other operations.
The prevailing motivation behind implementing and integrating these devices is simple: better cost control. If a business has the tools to track and manage their costs, the entirety of the business can be better optimized. When fewer resources are expended on a business’ crucial interactions and processes, the business inherently becomes more sustainable.
While it may seem like there has been ample time to take advantage of every aspect of the cloud’s capabilities, new services and utilities are still emerging. Sure, most businesses have adopted the cloud to support their email and file sharing needs, but this is the relative tip of the iceberg as far as the cloud’s potential is concerned. Businesses can now consider options like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Security as a Service (SECaaS), and even AI as a Service (AIaaS), confident in the reliability of these increasingly popular utilities and others.
Cloud vendors are also creating new services to see to a business’ needs. The largest cloud vendors can effectively fill any requirement a business has through increasingly specific services. As a result, SMBs definitely have options to help resolve their operational hurdles.
At this point, there is plenty of precedent to establish -- without any doubt -- that businesses of every size, industry, and resource level need to have a cybersecurity strategy in place. While many may argue that enterprise-grade security solutions are above their means, the aforementioned precedent makes this argument untenable. 66 percent of all SMBs were targeted by some kind of cyberattack in 2019, and 2020 is already projected to be just as bad, if not worse.
Fortunately, there are ways that a business can improve their cybersecurity preparedness, such as:
For the past decade, businesses have struggled with mobilizing their workforce. As a result, with today’s emphasis on remote work and other mobility-related concerns, solutions that enable a mobile workforce while eliminating risk have increased in importance. Now, increased connectivity, improved data security, and data protection policies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) allow your operations to be completed from inside and outside of your workplace, with resources safely delivered to your employees as they need them.
Coleman Technologies can help businesses around British Columbia adopt these approaches, or improve their use of them, to assist their operations and boost profitable productivity. To learn more, give us a call at (604) 513-9428.
While at its core, a VoIP system is a telephone system, it allows for many more options. Since it uses an organization's available bandwidth rather than a dedicated RJ-11 connection, there are more dynamic options available. It may raise the cost of the solution a bit, but VoIP can come with instant messaging, conferencing, and call archival built in.
VoIP is far more secure to use than the traditional landline because it is easier to secure a digital connection than it is to secure an analog one. The use of encryption protects all information transmitted through the system.
This is a big benefit. VoIP solutions can be linked to mobile applications. This means that any smartphone can become a work phone, and can be linked to the same number as the user’s business phone. This allows people to get calls on their phone without having to give over their personal number. This is either done through forwarding or by installing a simple app on the phone.
A VoIP system can be configured to support an entire business. There are integrated automated menus that can offer a lot of value by directing calls to voicemails, alternative members of your team, and allowing employees to avoid distractions and not neglecting their incoming calls. Call forwarding, parking, and many more options can be tied to a VoIP account for additional costs.
VoIP is a technology solution for all of your business’ calling needs. Call Coleman Technologies today at (604) 513-9428 for more information about VoIP and you can get the telephone system you’ve always wanted for your business.
Answer me this: would you rather pay your staff to accomplish their responsibilities, or pay the same amount to have them work just as hard but only accomplish half as much?
That’s what I thought.
Automated solutions and processes can make your business far more efficient than it would be otherwise, simply because it makes it so your staff doesn’t have to take care of rote responsibilities and can instead focus on capital-generating endeavors. As a result, you can streamline how your dollars are spent, making more for a relatively small investment.
Let’s face facts… all technology follows the same trajectory: it starts as an invention, is innovated upon, becomes the established norm, and is eventually phased out by the next invention. Alexander Graham Bell’s patent for the telephone is almost 150 years old - suggesting that it is high time for the next innovation to step into the fold.
In a large way, it already has, with Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP leverages your business’ Internet connection to place calls, meaning you no longer have to pay the telephone company for service. Furthermore, it is far easier (and cheaper) to expand a VoIP solution, making it an even better option for a growing business.
When selecting a solution, there’s a lot to be said about seeking out a bargain. However, you need to lean more towards frugality, and less towards being miserly. A solution that you may have gotten for a considerable discount, but ultimately costs you three times its worth in maintenance and repairs can barely be called a solution at all. Furthermore, cheaper devices are often cheaper because the manufacturers skimped on key aspects, like performance, security, and durability. The same can often be said of emerging technologies - it is better to be late jumping on the bandwagon than it is to be in the front row when the whole thing crashes.
Coleman Technologies is here to guide you as you outfit your business with the technology solutions it needs for success. Give us a call at (604) 513-9428 to talk to our seasoned professionals.
Here, we’ll commit some time to examining the enterprise-level technology that SMBs are now leveraging to encourage their business’ forward momentum, and how you can leverage a solution that may not initially seem to be a fit.
The first consideration that any small business decision maker needs to take is how connected people are today. This level of connectivity produces many things, perhaps most of all heightened expectations - a fact that any SMB needs to contend with.
Historically, a small business would never invest in solutions meant to improve the customer’s experience and relationship with the company - they just didn’t have to. However, consumer demand makes it so that investing heavily in software can bring opportunities that simply wouldn’t be there otherwise.
As a result, your SMB needs to have the following solutions in its arsenal:
It can almost be said that, if your business doesn’t use a CRM, you aren’t really in business. That’s how crucial a CRM system can be nowadays. With hundreds of options out there, there are those that are unquestionably meant for the enterprise user, as well as plenty of options dedicated to a particular industry’s needs. These particular solutions take the benefits of the CRM and integrate different options that are precisely suited to a specific industry vertical.
One of the biggest small-business benefits of a CRM has to be how it can automate a significant amount of tasks that once were handled by multiple employees - a relatively larger chunk of its workforce (and payroll) than a larger competitor would be concerned with. This makes the CRM that much more valuable to a small business, as it reduces the manpower needed to complete business-critical tasks through automation. By integrating your customer relationships with your scheduling, your payroll, and other concerns, a CRM helps to make your business and its operations more streamlined.
The demands of the customer are more crucial than ever to meet, especially for today’s smaller manufacturer. This means that the supply chain (procurement, manufacturing, fulfillment, and distribution) needs to smoothly work in coordination with its different parts. This is made easier by leveraging a single Supply Chain Management platform. Some of the options that these platforms often include, like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, are the same that are found in a CRM. This makes it easier to combine and consolidate software solutions so that users have that much less to learn to keep business moving.
Much like was said regarding the CRM, today’s small business doesn’t really exist without some kind of online presence. Some businesses will have an entire website created, while some stick to social media profiles. If you’re looking to boost your own business’ revenue generation (and why wouldn’t you be), building up your online presence is both an affordable and an effective means of doing so. Pairing this presence with automated systems can help you to nurture leads while simultaneously speeding up business and reducing operational costs.
This is how it works: your website captures leads. Once you have these leads, your marketing automation solution takes your captured information and integrates it with the CRM - saving you from the considerable task of doing it yourself. The end result, more worthwhile conversations that ideally end in more closed sales.
With the tools that are available today, it is amazing that more businesses aren’t leveraging them to cut costs and accomplish more. Don’t you want to get out ahead? The IT professionals at Coleman Technologies can help by deploying the ones that fit your business’ operations. For more information, call us at (604) 513-9428.
In order to be successful, a business needs to have the security necessary to protect its resources. The first step to accomplishing that, is to identify any weaknesses in its infrastructure through a preliminary IT evaluation known as an IT risk assessment. This assessment can reveal where a business is the most vulnerable. At that point, these flaws can be mitigated using tools like firewalls, antivirus, and multi-factor authentication - tools that either SMBs or enterprises can (and do) use.
With SMBs increasing their use of cloud services, a large portion of this process should be fulfilled by the cloud provider. However, the business leveraging the cloud provider needs to make sure that the provider they have selected is able to uphold what they have promised as part of their service-level agreement. If this is the case, the SMB could find themselves in the position to leverage enterprise-caliber security solutions, for a cost that fits their budget.
While their budgets put enterprise businesses in a much more favorable position to create an infrastructure that can contend with their operational needs, this is not to say that SMBs are left without any options. Any good data storage solution will perform well based on a few benchmarks: how well it works, how often it works, how easily it can be accessed, and how easily its contents can be searched.
The enterprise business has quite a few options to leverage, such as data tiering (where data of differing importance is stored on different servers) and higher-performing data storage solutions. If this is starting to sound expensive, it is - but again, thanks to the cloud, SMBs aren’t left without options, either. With scalable Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service being available for a much more affordable rate, SMBs are able to leverage the advanced tools that would otherwise only be available to corporate-level businesses.
Interested in leveraging some of these capabilities in your business, or want to find out more? Reach out to the professionals at Coleman Technologies! We have the experience necessary to bring your information technology to the corporate level. Reach out to us at (604) 513-9428 to learn more.
Under the GDPR - which came into effect on May 25, 2018 - any companies that have collected data on a resident of the European Union are then responsible for protecting that data. Furthermore, the GDPR grants these residents a far higher level of access and control over the data that organizations possess.
According to a poll, data privacy has become a bigger priority for 73 percent of respondents, 64 percent stating that they felt the security of their data was worse than it has been in the past. 80 percent want the ability to learn who has purchased their data, while 83 percent want the ability to veto an organization’s ability to sell their data in the first place. 64 percent also stated that they want the ability to have this data deleted.
Governing bodies at different levels have had different reactions to these demands. For instance, the state of California has already passed the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) - a piece of legislation that the House of Representatives' Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee isn’t too fond of, as its position is that there needs to be a singular piece of legislation at the federal level to protect data. As of right now, data privacy is addressed in a combination of state laws and some proposed federal laws.
One of these proposed laws, the Data Care Act, spells out that (in addition to promptly alerting end users to security breaches) a service provider cannot legally share a user’s data without the receiving party also being beholden to the same confidentiality standards. Others include the Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act, which requires transparency and personal control over data, the Consumer Data Protection Act, which could throw executives in prison for abusing data, and the American Data Dissemination Act, which sets a deadline for the government to enact privacy requirements upon businesses.
However, when the Consumer Protection and Commerce subcommittee met to discuss the prospect of a federal privacy law (which it was agreed was necessary), there weren’t any representatives for the average consumer - the ones whose data is really at stake. This reflects the hearings held last year by the Senate, also without consumer representation. Instead, technology companies were invited to participate during both sessions.
That being said, there is very little support among the committee for any regulations that are at all similar to the GDPR. One reason for this: the fear that small businesses will not find themselves able to afford the added cost of compliance.
For instance, there are a variety of potential burdens that such a measure could potentially impose upon small and medium-sized businesses. These burdens include:
It is worth noting that if your organization does business with people from the EU, you are responsible to adopt the privacy rules of the GDPR.
What do you think? Are laws like these necessary, especially given the cost they could put on small businesses? Have you had any data privacy concerns in the past? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Coleman Technologies has been serving the British Columbia area since 1999, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses. Our experience has allowed us to build and develop the infrastructure needed to keep our prices affordable and our clients up and running.
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