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How Much Of Your Business Can Be Automated?

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

Automation is transforming the way the world works.

Businesses of all sizes are embracing huge advances in technology to help them get things done on autopilot.

Implemented well, automation will help reduce your staff’s workload, increase efficiency, reduce costs, boost the quality of customer service, and help you use new data and insights to optimize performance.

The benefits will be felt by customers as well. As your competitors start to transform their businesses through automation, expectations can quickly change. If you don’t adapt, you risk falling behind and losing customers.

Here are three of the main areas that are ripe for automation in many businesses. [Read more…] about How Much Of Your Business Can Be Automated?

Lately, Ransomware Has Added Blackmail To Its Arsenal

Mark Funchion is a network technician at Tech Experts.

At this point, ransomware is practically a lifeform – it’s constantly growing and adapting.

Originally, if you were hit with ransomware, your data was encrypted and you could pay to (hopefully) get the data restored.

If you had an effective backup solution, you could restore your data without paying and adjust your security to prevent this from happening again.

Now, many of these attackers using ransomware have upped their game. They realize that more businesses are using backups, so the chances of getting paid are lessening. To combat that, the attackers added an additional feature to their attacks: blackmail / extortion.

Not only do they encrypt your data, but they take it as well. Now, the payment is to decrypt the data AND keep it from being posted online for all to see.

If you are a business with sensitive files, this can be a real issue. Having a backup is not enough in this case; even if you don’t pay the ransom and you’re back up and running in a few hours, all your data could be shared. Worse than the hassle of recreating all your files, the lasting effects from customer data, financials, and personal information being leaked could be devastating.

This is why it’s crucial to partner with an IT provider who understands network security.

An effective and tested backup solution is important, but there’s more that you need to have in order to be protected. Your network needs to be secured with a firewall, and all your devices need to be patched regularly to limit your exposure when exploits are discovered.

Are you using 2FA? Do you know what 2FA is? Are your passwords changed regularly and are they complex? Do all users in your office use the same password? Do they share accounts?

We know it seems more efficient to have easy passwords and shared log-ins, but it’s a huge security risk.

Businesses often find it easier to give users full administrative access to their local machine and network shares too. However, in that scenario, one compromised password that has full access to everything means the attackers do not need to look any further and can “walk” right in.

Another item that too many people turn off or find annoying is User Account Control. Yes, it can be frustrating to verify your user identity when you want to make changes.

That is, until a malicious program is launched without your knowledge and the User Account Control prompt stops your network and data from being attacked. What’s worse – a few seconds’ worth of verification or a costly business disaster?

These cyberthreats will always continue to grow and evolve. They have been since we started using the Internet. If you are not in the business of technology, it is very difficult for you to adapt efficiently enough to stay secure.

That is why the right technology partner who does adapt and evolve is very important to the success of your business.

6 Low-Cost Productivity Tips To Increase Competitiveness

Increasing workplace productivity can mean the difference between a business that succeeds and a great idea that fails. When a company produces more products or delivers higher-quality customer service more quickly than the competition, it gains the advantage.

To get the most benefit out of technology, however, organizations need to match the technology solution to the business need. Start by assessing business processes to identify areas for improvement. For instance, do employees find themselves bogged down with paperwork? Or does distance hinder effective collaboration?

The following low-cost productivity tips will help address productivity problems without breaking the budget. Some cost relatively little to implement, while others pay for themselves quickly in productivity gains.

Low-Cost Productivity Tips For Remote Workers

For many employees, remote work has become a way of life. A few essential technology items can significantly boost comfort and productivity for remote workers. Here are some examples:

Desktop comfort: Start with a wireless mouse, a Bluetooth keyboard, and a laptop stand.

Headsets: Wireless headsets enable office corridor roaming on calls and generally doing two things at once. Studies show that using a headset increases productivity by up to 40 percent.

Video conferencing technology: When employees spend hours each day on video conference, the right technology makes a significant difference. Start with an external webcam and a dedicated mic. Headsets can increase sound quality, as well.

Multiple monitors: For many jobs, such as customer support, dual monitors increase productivity by streamlining the process of copying between windows and improving multi-tasking.

Fewer Meetings, More Communication

Nothing interrupts a good work rhythm more than a useless meeting. On the other hand, when teams integrate communication technology into the workflow, productivity rises.

For instance, Microsoft Teams incorporates group chat directly into its popular Office apps. This allows team members to conduct just-in-time communication without leaving the work at hand.

Put It On The Calendar

When employees get in the habit of putting everything on the calendar, they work more efficiently. And when groups share a calendar, colleagues can determine availability at a glance, even for team members in another office.

Facilitate Information Sharing

In a data-driven environment, workers require on-demand access to up-to-date information. Cloud-based document management systems make essential documents accessible anytime, anywhere. And when employees share critical documentation through centralized information repositories, people have the information they need to work effectively and reduce errors.

Automate Repetitive Tasks

The more organizations automate repetitive tasks, the more employees can focus on core business tasks. Take an inventory of bottlenecks in your organization and determine whether automation can help solve the problem.

For instance, automation can help reduce time-consuming paperwork such as invoice processing and expense tracking. Likewise, sales and marketing departments benefit from automated call logging and tools that manage social media publishing.

Use Existing Tools More Effectively

Sometimes the solution lies not in purchasing new technology, but rather in optimizing the technology already at hand.

We can also help you adjust your network management and cybersecurity systems to ensure business continuity. And we can assist you with determining optimal email settings and retention policies to streamline communications. Call us today to discuss more low-cost productivity tips.

Best Tips To Maximize Efficiency When Working From Home

A quarter of people plan to work from home either permanently or more regularly when the pandemic is over.

No surprises there. Many people feel more productive when they work from home. And three-quarters believe there are fewer distractions at home (when the kids are at school, anyway).

Here are five things we recommend you put in place for everyone who’s going to be working from home, long-term:

A dedicated working space

Trying to work in the same space as other members of the family is testing for everyone. Help your team to identify where they will work and set up a proper work environment. This will also help them draw the line on the day’s work when they leave their workspace.

Fastest possible Internet

Slow speeds are the biggest frustration. There are often options to speed up Internet speeds. Maybe you could subsidize them upgrading to a better service?

Dedicated tech

62% of home workers would like their company to provide better technology to help them stay connected to what’s going on in the business.

From a data security point of view, you’ll have a lot more control if you give team members a business device to use only for work.

Collaborative software

Whether it’s Microsoft Teams or other software, it’s so easy these days for anyone working anywhere to stay up to speed on all relevant projects.

Help them feel involved

This can be as simple as sending pizzas to everyone’s houses, so your team can have lunch together on a video call.

Four Useful Features in Microsoft OneNote

OneNote is a brilliant tool for staying organized and on top of all of the bits of information you collect throughout each day.

But are you using the Microsoft 365 app to its full potential? Here are four useful features you may not have tried out yet.

Integrate it with other apps

OneNote integrates very well with the rest of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Did you know there are also a load of third-party apps that integrate with it?

From Zapier to Feedly, it’s worth exploring the ways that OneNote can work better with the rest of your technology.

Turn on dark mode when the lights go down

If you’re burning the midnight oil and the bright light of a white screen gets a bit too much, OneNote has an excellent dark mode feature. It turns everything dark while still maintaining enough contrast to make it easy to keep working.

Password protect private sections of your notebook

If you’re using OneNote to write or organize information you want to keep private, you can password protect individual sections of your notebook.

This can make it difficult for others to view things you’d rather they didn’t see.

Be careful though… adding a password doesn’t encrypt it. And if you lose your password you lose access to your notebook.

Extract text from images

OneNote supports Optical Character Recognition. This lets you throw a picture into OneNote and have the software automatically extract the text for you.

This can save a lot of time if you need to get hold of text from an image and then paste it into other documents. It can make quick work of a stack of business cards, avoiding the need for you to type all of the phone numbers and email addresses into your computer.

Over $1 Trillion Lost To Cyber-crime Every Year

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

$1 trillion! That’s a lot of money. And it’s a figure that’s increased by more than 50% since 2018.

In 2019, two-thirds of all organizations reported some type of incident relating to cyber-crime.

You could make a sure bet this figure rose significantly last year, thanks to criminals taking advantage of the pandemic.

It’s easy to look at big figures like these and not relate them back to your own business. But here’s the thing. The average cost of a data breach to a business is estimated to be around $500,000.

[Read more…] about Over $1 Trillion Lost To Cyber-crime Every Year

Phishers Lure Targets In With COVID-19 Schemes

Mark Funchion is a network technician at Tech Experts.

You may have noticed that we talk about phishing a lot. Unfortunately, phishing is an issue that will never go away and the tactics change constantly. That constant change makes it difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate as a threat.

Fortunately, there are red flags that end users can keep an eye out for.

If you get an email that answers a common demand, treat it with a high level of skepticism.

For example, a few years ago when the Nintendo Wii was hard to find and a lot of people wanted them, a lot of “Click here to buy a Wii now!” emails went out. I think you can guess how many people actually got a Wii through those schemes.

Well, it’s not Christmas, but the ongoing hot topic in the world is COVID-19 and its vaccine.

As we strive to return to normalcy, there are people who want the vaccine who do not qualify yet, are on a waiting list, or want to get it in a quick and easy way.

Attackers know this. In fact, they count on it. Phishers rely on human nature, and that is what makes it hard for the end user: you have to go against your basic human emotions.

All emails should be evaluated as if they are a phishing email. Look for the standard warning signs such as an offer that’s too good to be true, misspelled words, or if the wording of the message is a little off. Some are very obvious. Some are more subtle.

The attackers may also appear as though they are from a reputable company like a national pharmacy chain, a local doctor, or a large hospital system.

However, the typical format legitimate providers follow is that they’ll send you information on the vaccine and remind you to contact your health care professional to schedule an appointment.

Another example of the phishers’ methods is that they’ll send a link asking you to verify your information to determine eligibility (or even a link to buy the vaccine from a supplier).

Again, red flags. Take a moment to ask yourself why – when the vaccine distribution is so controlled – would a random person have a surplus of product?

These are all pretty basic ideas, but it is easy to get lax in proceeding with caution. It’s even more of a challenge to stay alert when the attacks are using current events to their advantage.

The days of free money from a “Nigerian Prince” are mostly over, but almost everything we do right now is influenced by COVID.

If and when you get the message asking you to “click here to verify your vaccine eligibility,” don’t do it. Next month, when you are hit with messages for updates on your taxes or missing money, don’t click on those either. Later this year at Christmas, don’t click on the link for the discounted, hot item everyone wants. And in 2022… rinse and repeat.

Phishing will always find a way to be relevant, and you can never let your guard down.

Please Don’t Give Everyone Access To Everything

With so many potential vulnerabilities in every business IT system, there is no “silver bullet” – no single safety measure that will let you sit back and relax, knowing your IT is safe and data is secure.

Most of the risks are ongoing and constantly changing. They need an active approach to stop your business falling victim to a data breach or malicious cyber-attack.

It would take a lot more space than is available in this newsletter to talk about all the risks you face.

So instead, we can talk about two of the most important things you can do to stay safe.

Make sure your team only has access to the data it needs

Keep an eye on who has access to what and whether they need it.

The more people have access to sensitive data, the more potential routes there are for the wrong people to get access to it.
If you give everybody access to everything, all it will take is for one account to become compromised.

And before you know it, criminals armed with malware will have access to your systems.

Just as important as this is how you manage the IT accounts of people who leave the business or change jobs internally.

For example, if an employee switches from accounting to a management job in a completely different part of the business, they probably won’t need to keep access to all the data they needed for their last role. Failing to adjust permissions only adds to your level of risk. When people leave your business, you must immediately restrict their access to your systems and data. Implement appropriate policies and processes to reduce the risk of something slipping through.

Keep your devices secure

Another important thing to watch out for is how frequently you’re installing updates on devices. This includes tablets and phones as well as computers. They must all be kept updated with the latest security patches. All it takes is one weak link for your whole business to potentially be compromised.

Make sure that you replace old devices that are no longer getting updates, or can’t support the latest versions of software. And of course, it’s also important to make sure that all devices are backed up in real time.

Consider computer and mobile device encryption. It turns the data into unreadable garbage if the wrong person gets hold of your device.

Three Trillion Minutes On Zoom (Is That Just This Week?)

Zoom calls… Teams meetings… Google Meets… whichever tech platform your business uses*, do you ever get to a Friday evening and feel a bit “over Zoomed?” Especially if you then have ANOTHER Zoom arranged with friends or family?

According to estimates, over three trillion minutes will be spent on Zoom this year. That’s about 5.5 million years!

As much as they’re a pain when you have them all day, video calls really do help us be productive and get things done while we’re working remotely.

76% of all employees use video calling for remote work, according to some stats we’ve been reading. Three quarters of those say it makes them more productive. 41% of employers believe video calls lead to better engaged teams.

How to feel less “over Zoomed” then… here are three suggested rules that have worked well for us.

1. Do a tech test before every meeting: Check your video and sound are working. Zoom has a test call facility at www.zoom.us/test

2. Never meet unless you have a written agenda: And put the agenda on screen using screen share. This stops meetings from dragging on.

3. Stand up, especially if you’re the organizer: This is good for real life meetings, too. When you stand for a meeting, your body will give you feedback when the meeting’s dragging. Standing desks are a great idea for productivity and keeping energy levels high.

* Side note: Do you remember in the old days (2018) when people used GoToMeeting for video calls? Or the really, really old days (2017) when we used Skype?

Microsoft 365 Is The Best Thing For Staff Productivity

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

Pandemic + Work From Home = relying on technology more than ever before.

The tools available in Microsoft 365 have developed to help us stay productive wherever we’re working.

If you’ve been using Microsoft’s software for years, now’s a good time to discover new features.

If you haven’t started exploring yet, you’re missing out on loads of ways to boost productivity and make your life easier. Here are some of the main things to explore.

Microsoft Teams
Teams has made communication and collaboration even more effective than traditional ways of working face-to-face. [Read more…] about Microsoft 365 Is The Best Thing For Staff Productivity