by IT Nation | Mar 6, 2023 | Cybersecurity, Email, IT Security
Technology has significantly improved the way we live and work, upgrading the speed and efficiency of almost everything in our day-to-day lives. From hectic home schedules to demanding full-time jobs, technology plays a role in keeping us connected. Are you investing in managing your technology and devices? Read below to find out why you should consider it. (Hint: it’s going to make you even more connected and productive).
Outsourcing your business’s IT with a trusted MSP (Managed Service Provider) can seriously Increase efficiency. Choosing to outsource IT helps business like yours streamline their operations, automate tasks, and improve their workflow, which leads to increased efficiency and productivity.
- Enhanced security and communication: Having an outsourced IT team means the software systems you are already utilizing stay updated and patched regularly, one less thing to do or delegate! Staying up to date with upgrades and security fixes on software like your email program and inter-office communication tools will allow your team to communicate and collaborate with each other with less down-time, regardless of their location. This can help businesses work more efficiently and improve company culture and customer service.
- Data management: Operations Software such as a CRM is crucial because it allows businesses to collect, store, and measure data, which can be used to gain valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and more. Using out of date or under-performing technology can slow your workflow down. On the flip side, using a software that is too clunky or complex is confusing and makes it harder to find and analyze your decision-making metrics. Every business has unique requirements for operational software and metrics.
A good MSP can help evaluate your current technology solutions to make sure they are secure, up to date, and fulfilling your business’s needs . If you’re outsourcing, you have a full IT team at your service to assess if your current tech processes are working for you or against you. We research, compare, and recommend solutions that address the pain-points your business is facing and seamlessly handle the transition so you don’t have another task on the never ending “To-Do” list that managers and owners are all too familiar with.
- Competitive advantage: If you outsource your IT with a service provider like IT Nation, your business can gain a competitive advantage by using technology to improve products, services, sales cycles, and operations. Technology drives business growth and automates the (often) repetitive tasks leaving managers and employees time to focus on driving business growth and building relationships not to mention, getting you closer to that mythical work-life balance everyone is always talking about.
Overall, IT is a critical component of modern-day businesses, and it is essential for staying competitive in today’s digital age. Whether you are a small business owner or a large corporation, investing in IT can help you achieve your goals and grow your business.
by IT Nation | Oct 7, 2021 | Cybersecurity, Email, IT Security
Be cautious of unsolicited texts, emails, phone calls, or social media messages asking you to open an attachment or click a link and provide confidential personal or financial information. If you suspect an email, link or attachment is not real do not open or click on it, delete it.
Common Examples of this Scam
Scammers use a variety of scenarios designed to get victims to provide their social security, bank account, credit card, Secure Access Code (SAC), or PIN number, including:
- Get your stimulus payment faster
- A package is waiting for you
- You owe back taxes to the IRS
- Anything regarding your Amazon account
- Information about your COVID status
by IT Nation | Mar 19, 2020 | Cybersecurity, Email, IT Security, Privacy
At this point in time, we are all well aware of the substantial impacts the COVID-19 virus is having on the world. With significant actions being taken around the country to prevent the spread of the virus, the public is being asked to social distance and stay inside away from others as much as possible. This has led to non-essential businesses closing shop in efforts to prevent employees from being in close contact with one another. Those that are able, and lucky enough, to perform their job remotely are being asked to do so by employers. As a result, people are moving their work offices and beginning to carry out job tasks in their own homes. The circumstances are unprecedented, and many are scrambling to ensure that work and school can continue on as regularly as possible. As a result of this transition, concerns are being raised on whether or not necessary technology can continue to work efficiently outside of offices and schools. Now, internet providers must answer the question of, how can smaller scaled home internet services possibly keep up with the sudden demand of usage?
What will be a significant issue with employees transitioning their workload to perform at home is that internet broadband services most have in their homes is not built to carry the amount of traffic that will be demanded. Work sites such as large offices and schools typically carry what is known as enterprise grade internet service, which can manage a large amount of traffic at once. The infrastructure of at home internet services, which most consumers use, consist of lower capacity broadband plans. When using internet for demanding tasks such as video calling, streaming, or large file downloads, some may experience stalls, and overall slowness in operations they are trying to perform.
Cities which have become centers for COVID-19 outbreaks, such as Seattle and San Francisco, are already experiencing a spike in internet usage. However, amidst the sudden surge providers such as Verizon, Cox, Comcast, and more are confident in their internet services abilities to maintain performance. These major companies are claiming that they will begin to boost their services in the days to come to satisfy sudden demands.
You might be wondering what you can do if you are ever experiencing slow internet service when trying to work remotely or complete schoolwork on your home WiFi. Some helpful tips for when your internet service may be holding you back is to look at what devices that are not being used in your home are connected to the same network. Keep these devices off or unplugged for the time being. Also, make sure that others in your home are not connected to the same network, or trying to do demanding tasks such as stream, or any type of video calling. In addition, ethernet cables can be used to plug into your device directly from the internet router. Doing this may help the strength of the internet connection.
Although these are trying times, we must all find alternative ways to go on with life with as much normalcy as there is granted to us. During this time we ask you all to share below helpful ways in which those of us working from home can use services via the internet to better perform tasks! Let us all help each other succeed as much as we can during this time.
by IT Nation | Jan 6, 2020 | Cloud Apps, Cybersecurity, Email
You’ve probably heard plenty about Microsoft Office 365. You might even be familiar with some of its tools and features. But if you aren’t already using the cloud-based solution, chances are that you’re not aware of the difference Office 365 can make for your employees and their productivity.
In our experience, the primary inhibitor to businesses adopting Office 365 is lack of resources: IT personnel are busy with other tasks, and migrating data to the cloud can be difficult without in-house expertise. But with IT Nation, you can unlock the potential of Office 365, which is so much more than just Microsoft Office in the cloud. The list of benefits is long, but we’ve narrowed them down to these six main reasons to migrate and grow your business:
1. Simplified Administration
Dealing with software licenses can be a headache. But Office 365 includes all licensing and it can be deployed company wide, ensuring that all employees have the same version of Microsoft apps and automatic updates at the same time. Employees also can log on from any device at home or in the office. Since each user can install Office 365 on up to five devices, a mobile BYOD (bring your own device) policy is much easier to manage. In addition, data backup, security and recovery are managed by Microsoft.
2. Mobile Access
With Office 365, your calendar and all of your contacts and emails are automatically synchronized with your mobile devices, allowing you to access and edit files in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote from anywhere, anytime. All you need to do is add your work account to the Microsoft Office app and you can easily edit the files you have saved in OneDrive for Business.
3. Lowers Business Costs
With Office 365, you don’t have to worry about servers (or the related energy costs and office space to store them) or rely on a heavy in-house IT department. We can act as an extension of your IT team to handle all on-boarding and ongoing support so you don’t have to. In addition, you can swap out DropBox for Microsoft OneDrive and use Skype for Business in the place of GoToMeeting to save money.
4. Powerful Collaboration Tools
Office 365 enables your employees to communicate via instant messaging and work collaboratively on documents and files in SharePoint. You can set your own document management and sharing criteria, allowing you to quickly share files and build intranets, extranets and project-oriented collaboration sites. Microsoft Office 365 also offers a video delivery solution with built-in encoding and management tools to streamline the process of uploading video and building video portals. And video is stored and streamed from Microsoft Azure using Microsoft’s global network.
5. Scalability and Flexibility
Office 365 grows with your organization, allowing you to add or remove users by simply adding or removing licenses. You’re not locked into a contract, you’re only committed to your service package for a month at a time with a flexible monthly subscription model. Office 365 also allows you to mix-and-match apps to customize solutions for different users or departments.
6. Robust Security and Compliance
With Office 365, Microsoft systems scan your messages and documents for spam and malicious software, and Microsoft data centers help safeguard your data. Essentially, you get built-in security and it’s easy to remotely wipe all data if you lose a mobile device. Additionally, multiple add-ons let you tailor Office 365 to specific industry regulations and data compliance requirements. For example, security and encryption settings can be customized to comply with HIPAA, FISMA, ISO 27001, and more.
The bottom line is that, in today’s competitive business environment, your business can’t afford not to use Office 365.
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