tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40015363208808684552024-03-14T01:37:42.002-04:00Dominick X. BranaDominick Brana - Computer Services Entrepreneurhttp://www.netiton.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06573076448836542633noreply@blogger.comBlogger348125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-67641567974359325952023-07-26T13:37:00.005-04:002023-07-26T13:37:00.141-04:00AI Isn’t an Employee Alternative, but a Tool to Assist Users<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The past several years have brought about innovations in artificial intelligence, or AI, that has workers worried for their jobs—especially as it moves into more practical and usable mediums. This can all be tied to the Turing Test, a way of measuring the intelligence of a computer, created by one of the most notable minds behind computing, Alan Turing.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JckroU" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_mdwS0FneIQREKmjTNyKY9P5TC8fuBvmWhqz9vsmMo5Fu9tvqy4v_k1HSiuVmdEGu8jJmm7viQTmIw7hKahfU2nZf7XEHclD46FCQog6TKr1SBJOgXFOmB3JvjKyp6kTTYua6vmuUEmz9PtgP-NHe2Ye1nHbD1c5m_JxTtE49RbWzVl5JE_MVquV2A/s320/aiVSworker_367092741_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7252" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Nowadays, it’s worth asking if comparing the two was the right call; rather, industry professionals think that collaboration between AI and human workers is more preferable compared to competition.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Turing’s Standard May Have Produced Economic Inequities</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">At the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, director Erik Brynjolfsson claims that advances in AI have created serious issues, economic inequality among them. In the Spring 2022 issue of Dædalus, a journal produced by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, <a href="https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/news/the-turing-trap-the-promise-peril-of-human-like-artificial-intelligence/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-out 0s;">he writes</a> that the goal of AI swiftly became a mission to overtake the capabilities of the human mind. All of that to say that this mission was not the appropriate way to handle the development of this technology. Brynjolfsson’s work illustrates that this fixation on creating human-like machines has made wage inequality worse.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Brynjolfsson’s argument is that the development of AI has simply removed the need for human employees, and while productivity can increase as a result, the benefits of that productivity are only really reaped by business owners and leaders within organizations. This divide further increases the rift between workers and the rich, increasing the wage gap and creating what is known as “the Turing Trap.”</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The creation of AI is just another example of humans attempting to ascend from humanity to become something different entirely, a creator of life in their own image. There are countless examples of this ranging from the golem of Jewish folklore, the automatons built by Daedalus of ancient Greek tales, or the inventors from early Islamic kingdoms and the European Renaissance. Modern popular culture and media does little to separate AI from these stories, as they paint AI as human-like entities seeking to become even <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;">more </em>human-like.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">If this is the wrong approach, then what is the right one?</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">According to Brynjolfsson, AI Would Be Better Used as “Augmentation”</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Human employees and AI employees are both capable of doing things well, but it’s critical to note that the things they do well are not the same. Therefore, the key to making the most good out of AI is for humans to supplement their shortcomings with it. In essence, humans are “partnering” with AI to produce better results.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Unfortunately, it’s seen as easier to replace rather than integrate AI, simply because there is no true precedent for doing so. Other research has shown that there are various tasks that people would prefer to do themselves rather than AI, so there will always be things that people want to do themselves that AI can, but should not, do. People are worried that automation will replace the human worker, but there are other proponents who argue that AI can only feasibly cover a small portion of the various duties associated with human work.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-70036853341401703192023-07-19T13:35:00.001-04:002023-07-19T13:35:00.155-04:00How Can T-Mobile’s Security Woes Help Your Efforts?<p> <span face="Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #50668f; font-size: 14px;">Bad news for T-Mobile users, they’ve suffered another data breach. Hackers have gained access to customer data for nearly 37 million individuals, including both pre-paid and subscription-based accounts. Let’s look at what has happened and what knowledge you might apply to your own network security practices.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JckroU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRjfNKfEWQtZRzgjozjoHpoHf9h2p4OzDc-x7x0g-93HXO5Am5zXyqfl7-SjvlTbZx6lfOSNfmucJWuMSjqZmQVut0_crwKMhExFuPU6NmUYixvUOdNBF9Epw-2Vp8aYMJ2jixOhL39YZjP6kUpNR868zHIpssdRY_BzOGTt19dyBWVgsBg_o4P4keQ/s320/breach_236546835_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span face="Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" id="more-7271" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem; outline: none;">Why Did This Happen Again?</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">This hack occurred thanks to a tactic known to target the Application Programming Interface, or API. The API is code that allows an application to connect to the Internet and communicate with other applications. For example, some smart appliances and devices might make use of APIs for their core functionality.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">APIs tend to be secure, but they are, of course, not fail-safe, as this breach showcases. Sensitive information was leaked as a result of the T-Mobile data breach. Despite this grim news, take heart knowing that financial information was not exposed or stolen.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">T-Mobile discovered this hack on January 5th, but by then, the hack had been active for about one month. The API informed companies using it on November 25, 2022, leaving a clean near-two months between the notification date and the resolution date of January 19th. According to the company, “the malicious activity appears to be fully contained at this time.”</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem; outline: none;">What Can You Learn from This Incident?</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">T-Mobile has a track record of suffering from data breaches, including attacks in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2015, leading to millions of dollars in settlements. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that network security issues are preventable and costly, so you should do all you can to ensure they don’t bring about challenges for your business.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-48854139980689574792023-07-12T13:33:00.005-04:002023-07-12T13:33:00.136-04:003 Factors You Need to Consider Before You Upgrade<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If you consistently find that technology in your office causes more problems than it’s worth, perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at what you could be doing better with your infrastructure. We want you to look at failing or inoperable/inefficient technology as an opportunity for improvement rather than another large expense. A good hardware refresh centered around your organization’s needs can revitalize operations and improve your bottom line.</span></p><span id="more-7258" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">To help you better identify these opportunities, let’s examine some of the frustrations you might experience that could result in a hardware refresh.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Slow Technology</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Slow technology is a telltale sign that something is wrong with your infrastructure. Computers will grow slower and more sluggish over time, and they will ultimately result in your operations and security suffering. Be sure to implement a timeline for when you will refresh your computers, somewhere between the three-and-five year mark. Of course, if things get too slow for your preference, it’s perfectly fine to address this issue before (or even after) that point.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Furthermore, we also recommend that you upgrade your servers around the four-year mark. Some companies can get away with going longer, but we don’t recommend it, as technology can become obsolete and unsupported if you’re not careful. Plus, the maintenance and upkeep of old servers can be more than the cost of simply upgrading it. Basically, the rule here is simple; overestimate the time it will take to upgrade your infrastructure, and you can do no wrong.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">A Growing Company</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">If your business has seen considerable growth since the last time you upgraded your infrastructure, it is time to consider it. Your network is likely under more pressure than it was when you were just a handful of employees getting things started. You should see this upgrade as an exciting opportunity rather than an annoyance or a budget-breaker, as it means that your organization is thriving and growing. Still, looking at your entire infrastructure can be intimidating, to say the least.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Legacy software in particular can be challenging to move away from, as your team has likely been using it for a long time and is used to it. The older a software becomes, the less likely it is to play nice with new and innovative tools that could help you stay competitive. You’ll want to stay ahead of this if possible, and know that replacing legacy applications with more viable, long-term solutions is a sign that your business is making progress when so many others are stagnating.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">A Remote Team</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">A remote workforce brings opportunities for improvement, as there are unique challenges and opportunities presented by the possibility of your team working off-site. With cloud-hosted tools, you can increase the flexibility and accessibility of your resources to not just your remote team, but also to your in-house employees. This allows for smoother operations as a whole across the board.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Plus, cloud computing can have considerable benefits for your budget, cutting your costs by about one-third. If you implement it properly, it can save you a lot in terms of operational costs and capital expenses. With the cloud, you’ll find deploying assets, managing solutions, and allocating resources to be as simple as can be. With so many software solutions out there, you will surely find the Software-as-a-Service technologies your business needs to see great and continued success through the cloud.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3ZV4v1B" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8widXk4B_T0EFgpC5trI8Ys0bIRNjswEYnckVUIriPCrXDT1ycc4YlyRz0renrTXzSyd2R6KB8cIGSIq68Se81Praj4Lru5jNF5ztTCFs47GjPJxYYOvl_QoD63IlzAPXVmgzqplW2LfIDAGjHBRQIoQNr8KZRL9DespKMxCMXXvEx4v2pY_p1Q6-cg/s320/upgrade_200742874_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-62310545407710816212023-07-05T13:31:00.005-04:002023-07-05T13:31:00.138-04:00How Does AI Influence a Business’ Ability to Produce?<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now that AI tools are more publicly accessible than ever before, the question of whether or not it’s good for business looms ever closer. These tools are limited in their capacity to help, but they do show enormous potential that could be indicative of success in the future. Let’s go over some of the questions people have about AI tools.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JGwtZb" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbt5RKDMG_YRzKmXrrJuijS_wALE-hHRTEKemP54cBA9hJWxQRCSlzXnly0FTGoee9yRzQ4CJIT_-b4CG7ZkLCdHAMrydFLnleaeV26EYVYZkad3CrXO9YtV0qrgLLNcVmQLCQivxEIci_PeEIjJSfNOzO6erzgVMjJ77Q5FlAe8S8IjNjNEtFb8sS-A/s320/humanAI_174958059_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7277" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Do AI Programs Steal Art and Work from the Internet?</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">An AI program cannot function without data to work with, and the Internet is the single most populated database in existence. Recent AI tools make use of data found on the Internet, much of which is legally protected by copyright law, often without recognition or recompense. There are even examples you can find online, including those where AI-generated paintings showcase the base work amidst the scraps of others (including the author’s signature). Furthermore, AI-generated text can also be run through plagiarism checkers to determine its authenticity, often failing to pass the test—at least in terms of what is acceptable.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The odds are just as likely that the AI you might use will create more problems than it solves, particularly with this kind of creative work and intellectual property. How these problems will be addressed and resolved is unclear at this time.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">AI Could Influence Employment</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">How work is done is constantly changing, and AI presents yet another opportunity for some businesses to accomplish specific tasks in a different, more hands-off way. While there have been cases in the past where certain technologies and innovations have been replaced by more modern tools, like the horse with the car, for example, certain positions in the creative arts have long been considered “safe” from the interference of technology. Well, AI makes a case against that statement.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">There is a very real concern that AI could invalidate many creative positions, even with plagiarism involved. That said, however, it’s equally likely that these positions will simply change and adapt to the new technology. New opportunities will emerge from this new technology, leading to a sort-of “collaboration” between AI tools and their human masters. In this way, AI is doing the heavy lifting while the humans are the ones in charge of managing that lifting.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-63367925893848074402023-06-28T13:29:00.005-04:002023-06-28T13:29:00.141-04:00What Can You Gain from AI?<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">AI is a major topic lately, whether it’s on the topic of new and upcoming chatbots that are capable of generating text or making art that can compete with even the most skilled of artists. AI is commonly targeted as a culprit in stealing jobs, as well, and with these applications becoming more sophisticated over time, it’s no wonder people aren’t sure how to react to these developments.</span></p><span id="more-7260" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">However, AI has advanced to the point where even small businesses and individuals can take advantage of it to at least some degree. In fact, you might already be doing so without realizing it. Let’s discuss how AI is used in business and what could be next for AI in the workplace.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3LoZNEO" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1zll8xVtFG9kIxHkdNHtasY5mkwrCcLUMff01qSlJlq5layTCWAfrAm8MTlDxRToKy5mk68ReIGKlKKA9UnRMaqoyRXzGpDdy984LCiLnsTDySXrCnAWRpdo1_H2bT3wiyWrr3n9mVKYUvhNf3j2X4N5jGaV3Gj77wgq6tFj9epnTXDj7ynm8Em4Qw/s320/AIbusiness_561075085_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">AI Makes Important, Monotonous Tasks Easier and More Efficient</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Process automation has been happening as far back as the advent of the wheel and in agriculture, but AI takes this concept one step further by taking existing information and adapting it. Most of the automation you see in the workplace is process automation, which takes tasks that humans usually handle—tasks that aren’t necessarily productive or engaging—and automates them, saving time and money that could be better spent on other, more productive tasks that are more suited to them. These tasks might involve innovation or other aspects of the creative process that are not-so-easily automated.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">AI Provides Insights Faster Than the Alternatives</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Businesses run on data, so if it’s organized, it’s more manageable and usable. Finding the time and resources to do this, however, is something that can be difficult for businesses, especially without it leading to considerable user error. AI uses algorithms to make this process easier and more efficient, and some systems can even use existing data to extrapolate potential outcomes and predict what could happen in the future. AI is able to quickly identify patterns that the human brain might not pick up on, but this doesn’t make the human’s role in the process any less important. The AI needs human input to work properly, after all.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">AI Assists with Customer and Client Communication</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">AI can help businesses better manage their outreach efforts by recalling past conversations and communications, effectively providing individuals with personalized experiences. Using an AI to keep track of this information saves your business time and resources while making your services that much more convenient for your consumers. AI can also operate as a chatbot for your business, helping customers with some of the more frequently asked questions and making support more accessible and convenient. This idea, called cognitive engagement, is one reason why AI is such a popular tool for communications and support. It gives workers, whether they are doctors or IT technicians, more time to focus on providing the best service they can.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-25787700589187373472023-06-21T13:27:00.007-04:002023-06-21T13:27:00.143-04:00The Password Manager Boosts Organizational Security<p><span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There are so many threats out there that there are positions dedicated within companies to protecting network infrastructures and managing cybersecurity strategy. This alone should be enough to get you to take it seriously. With your employees controlling the “keys to the castle,” i.e., passwords, you need to make sure that you have a solid password strategy in place so as to not inadvertently put your company at risk.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoqkY6iUvn3pfC9HZFJpE8J7MCuIChrzS5YilQs3oKTzgJaznjnMXIZwGgBdJycOtOExxTTGOtly4OveWKlrZuYf8LM8GpPMZIJ64GioANqpfCeAIo_HzvPN3ltBwA97Se8Sdu5Ngc493ltl1Wd9zBlmkn96tu6lWnP2FoLwOXrKMN0cf536dVvpbyQ/s400/passwordManager_558793146_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoqkY6iUvn3pfC9HZFJpE8J7MCuIChrzS5YilQs3oKTzgJaznjnMXIZwGgBdJycOtOExxTTGOtly4OveWKlrZuYf8LM8GpPMZIJ64GioANqpfCeAIo_HzvPN3ltBwA97Se8Sdu5Ngc493ltl1Wd9zBlmkn96tu6lWnP2FoLwOXrKMN0cf536dVvpbyQ/s320/passwordManager_558793146_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JJ1tbh">A Great Password Manager is Well Worth the Investment</a></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Simply put, a password manager helps you remember all of the passwords you use throughout the day without having to actually remember them. Password managers are the exception to the rule that you should never write down or save your passwords, as they are software solutions protected with full-fledged, military-grade encryption.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Considering that the average user needs to remember dozens of passwords, having a safe place to store them is a huge benefit.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The password manager will be much more sufficient for protecting your passwords than a notebook, or a file on your computer, or even in your brain, for that matter. Since the passwords you use are going to be complex, and they will be protected by an extremely strong master password, you can know that your credentials are safe and sound, away from prying eyes. All of your passwords will be easily accessible to you through the browser plugin or a dedicated desktop or mobile application, so there is no need to stress about forgetting an important credential or getting locked out of your account.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Password managers also make it easier to share credentials between one-another on the off-chance they need to, like for a shared productivity application account or web service account.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">In summary, a password manager…</p><p><span id="more-7280" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding-left: 30px;"><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Helps you to use sufficiently secure passwords</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Assists you in creating passwords that are more secure</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Enables your entire organization to access shared resources easily</li></ul>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-75186641035931518862023-06-14T13:25:00.006-04:002023-06-14T13:25:00.143-04:00Paying Attention to Your Cybersecurity Is Just Good Risk Management<p><span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Small businesses have plenty of problems as it is without the added stress that poor security practices can bring about. Small businesses often overlook security because they deem themselves too small to be of any value to a hacker, but this outlook is short-sighted and irresponsible at best. Let’s go over why you’ll need to make security a priority for your business.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3ZRc0qc" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilw2zj_juDcQZ_1D2yaYS3xDWCtXjgeFJXCVM1q2IFlkSl-MFVZNfc3AUPtfmoi7cQ0mUW99UdW-h84f5zQh90iu_lz0E3D-vR_wIYKPybYSVyFaj0mFp6fkjC4Ibm-EfWmumn1n-jN89IQ2X-Wbg1nZ0e6xXTCQ7GzMCqHgdMhj-4Bi9FAqOOe9pl8Q/s320/Security_548834079_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7266" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">How much sensitive data does your business actually store on its network? We bet it’s more than you think. Whether it’s payroll records, bank account numbers, personally identifiable information, information about vendors or clients, you surely have data on your network that a hacker will find valuable. Here are some reasons why you need to make security an important part of your business practices.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Proactive is Better Than Reactive</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Any security discrepancy could put your workday at risk, and it could be from something as simple as someone clicking on the wrong link or downloading the wrong attachment. Such a simple mistake could make a world of trouble for your company if you’re not prepared to handle it. Any solution you can implement to keep your company’s infrastructure safe makes it less likely that you’ll suffer from a security breach, thus reducing the time you spend reacting to them in the process.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Secure Your Business’ Future</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Nobody wants to work with a business that doesn’t take its security seriously, especially if that business is housing important financial or personal information on their network to provide you with a good or service. The same can be said for your clients. If you aren’t careful with your security, any clients affected by negligence will leave poor reviews and tell others about their experiences, thus leaving you with slim pickings for potential new clients in the New Jersey community. It’s better to play it safe and implement security tools to protect your business now so you don’t suffer the consequences later.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Protect Your Assets</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Of course, the lost productivity and lost customers are only the tip of the iceberg for the fallout of a data breach. Depending on your industry, you may also be subject to fines associated with various regulations and rules you must follow. If you don’t want these fines to break your budget and overwhelm your organization from both a financial and legal perspective, then you’d better be prepared to cough up some change for security solutions before you are affected by a data breach.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-5502553863921918332023-06-07T13:23:00.005-04:002023-06-07T13:23:00.144-04:00Solving Your Business Problems Isn’t Always Simple<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3mTbwRU" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibzpHSIp9-5VK9JFa-I8J0RXoTj-8Qr-4tySuNwQ0mwkj3lFM1n_elXj2fcO6RmQJ-dXJcW7oNRj5TTAZX2SCqi8p5ob0Z187_bBnoh6_mI97BqOyPzokmaHxf3P_gZ8WpxY8lXtB9rdhelW7Qt167txo89u4cQbUYC94rZpNoXXBXT9XH4juPd62NAA/s320/problemSolving_105519716_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Remote work doesn’t come without its fair share of issues, but with a little creativity and ingenuity, you can help your remote employees overcome them. Let’s examine structured problem solving, a particularly helpful approach to issue resolution that can help your team be more productive throughout the workday.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Structured Problem Solving Explained</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">When you take a good look at business problems, many of them appear to be large and difficult to approach. This is where structured problem-solving comes into play. This technique can help you break down your large and difficult tasks into smaller and more manageable chunks, allowing you to slowly chip away at the bigger, overarching problem. It sure beats letting it consume you.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">One method of structured problem solving that is particularly helpful is called DMAIC, which is short for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. With this approach in mind, you’ll be able to break down complex problems and make them much easier to handle.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: roboto; font-size: 1.5rem !important; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 2rem; outline: none;">How Does DMAIC Work?</h3><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding-left: 30px;"><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Define</span> which process it is that you are experiencing issues with, where your opportunities for improvement lie, and what goals you want to reach.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Measure</span> how well your process is performing.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Analyze</span> the process to identify where the shortcomings are.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Improve</span> upon the shortcomings by resolving what causes them.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Control</span> the newly devised process to ensure performance is maintained.</li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">That’s the long and short of it. If you apply this process for the variables in your complex, difficult problem, you’ll be more likely to find the best way to solve it.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Communication Remains a Remote Work Challenge</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Your in-house team and your remote team need to be able to communicate effectively, but this is challenging when there is a very real distance between them. Communication is easy enough in the office thanks to multiple communication tools, but it’s also supported by the fact that people can just talk face-to-face when needed. Remote workers don’t have this option.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">If we follow the model outlined above, we can define the problem as a lack of communication shared between employees, with the goal being to improve communications between employees in different locations. We can then measure the frequency of employees communicating both in-house and remote.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The next step is determining which part of the process is not working for your organization. In this case it’s workplace communication, and determining what the root cause of it is will be crucial. Is it the tools used during the process that is holding things up? What about a potential leadership or training issue? You can’t leave any possibility off the table.</p><p><span id="more-7283" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Once you have information to work with, you can start solving the problem by slowly making changes that advance your goal. You can try adding new tools to your infrastructure, or providing better training courses for your team. Follow up every so often to find out if the issue has truly been resolved, then adjust accordingly over time. </p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-51642295751718288852023-05-31T13:20:00.005-04:002023-05-31T13:20:00.143-04:00Collaboration Tools Can Help Build a Friendlier Workspace<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There’s a misconception in the business world that being too nice will make you appear as a pushover, but as far as cliches go, “Nice guys finish last” doesn’t have much supporting evidence in favor of it.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JjrtbI" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik0lWSEPZhmuUvE1ydYwrbrTWnzYAvOhqezdIReLFLSQV3CRTPDm6CoCpovzEubLca6hSUeWMvEp8Zt5bxY1AUoDXVODHdNX2-yjahsvt8B2f4bWKJVEbEnSQLzFscEanHyYFwRhBJMajhBeYPVeo-NjLT1DUD8Ow9Uotg43Nr1WPJN1ag754G3hqQPQ/s320/collaboration_555640104_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7269" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">You Don’t Have to Be a Jerk to Make Progress</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Even if the stereotype of the office jerk is all over the place, research shows that being unpleasant in the workplace doesn’t really get you anywhere. If anything, it is actually detrimental to your professional development.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: roboto; font-size: 1.5rem !important; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 2rem; outline: none;">Introducing Cameron Anderson, Professor of Organizational Behavior at UC Berkeley</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Following the 2016 election, Anderson sought to study the impact that being unpleasant can have on outcomes. To gauge these results, Anderson chose to examine the correlation between a personality test administered decades ago with where the participants were professionally in the present day.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The end result makes for a great title: <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2005088117" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-out 0s;">People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work</a>. His research shows that people who are unpleasant in their day-to-day duties are no more likely to make upward progress than those who aren’t, no matter how toxic the workplace is.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The study also showed, however, that pleasantness and generosity were not a factor, either. The research shows that either individual, pleasant or unpleasant, is no more likely to succeed in an isolated environment, but when they are allowed to meld together (as they do in a realistic workplace), they tend to cancel each other out. Another study from the University of Hong Kong, the University of Iowa, and Purdue University showcases an interesting correlation based on the results of a metastudy of 200 other pieces of research. They found that people who are supportive and proactive, not just agreeable, are more likely to reach the top compared to those who aren’t.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Changing the Office Dynamic Takes Effort</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Being a jerk isn’t necessarily the determining factor in someone’s success, but it’s also not going to help anyone around you, either. If anything, you should want to remedy this behavior so you can help others around you achieve their best results, too.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Some academics, like Bob Sutton, a professor of management science at Stanford, believe that a zero-tolerance approach toward unpleasant behavior can get the job done. The idea behind this policy is that when someone starts throwing their weight around, you throw it right back at them. Businesses can also make more efforts to reward not just those who are productive from a personal standpoint, but also uplift and encourage their coworkers to be their best selves.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">With things like the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, and rage applying all over the place, you really don’t need to give your employees more reasons to seek employment elsewhere. After all, it costs more to replace an employee than to hold on to a good one. If you can foster an encouraging and collaborative environment, you might be surprised by how much you find your workplace can change in a short period of time. It might even help you draw in and retain top talent.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">One of the big ways you can make sure your team feels seen, appreciated, and understood is by respecting them enough to give them the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. </p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-17891128281152895082023-05-24T13:19:00.005-04:002023-05-24T13:19:00.139-04:00What You Can Do to Preserve Security With Remote Work in Play<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Remote work is now more common than it has ever been before, so we want to ensure that you are informed about the security implications of switching from in-house operations to remote or hybrid operations. Let’s discuss some practical ways you can implement remote work security policies and procedures.</span></p><span id="more-7287" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Securing Your Remote Operations is a Multi-Faceted Process</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">To get started, let’s review some of the common ways you might secure a remote network infrastructure.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: roboto; font-size: 1.5rem !important; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 2rem; outline: none;">Utilize a Virtual Private Network (VPN)</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Virtual private networks are going to be more secure alternatives to just about any other network, and they can transform your typical wireless network connection into an encrypted tunnel for security even while away from the protections of your in-house network. A VPN encrypts data sent from and received by your device, giving your users a secure way of transferring data. It’s a must-have for any company that has remote operations in any capacity.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">And yes, this means using the VPN when the employee is working from home, away for a business trip, or just working from a public location. You don’t know what else is connected to those networks, so treat them with some scrutiny.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: roboto; font-size: 1.5rem !important; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 2rem; outline: none;">Only Use Secured and Approved Hardware and Software</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Similarly, you’ll want to ensure that your team members are only using devices and applications that have been cleared by IT. Only appropriate tools should be used by your business, and these tools need to be approved by your IT department to ensure the security of your network. Any devices housing or accessing business data, after all, need to be screened and protected for the purposes of compliance.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">This is especially important for remote workers who might feel tempted to just find their own solutions for problems rather than bother those who are in-house or seemingly inaccessible. We recommend using cloud-based tools that can be accessed by any approved device, thereby eliminating the need to pursue other avenues of productivity that are not approved for use.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3yGwy95" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj727LDVUF3bmZoyG-YTLR18m9ZEcymVGjfpKxcqvBQyS-F9qShD7qUdY3tHWaYjIARFMgQIFwkj6loh4rODVzRbsCYkWLsbk6kMn8FFWpq4ad0_cMwMH7l4gZAMZLvtbxnXtdMOfCu3L4kgU_dhU47yk0pRhAt9XvdyoY60B6uK-sWK_UPT-kXDAxE6A/s320/remoteWorkSecurity_522465048_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: roboto; font-size: 1.5rem !important; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 2rem; outline: none;">Keep This Hardware and Software Maintained</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Once you have made it clear what tools you need your team to use, you’ll have to put every effort you can into ensuring they are maintained and managed properly. This means making sure they aren’t a headache to use by updating them with patches and updates as they are released.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Furthermore, your solutions will need to be monitored, particularly for the remote employees, to ensure that no security threats are happening while out of the office. If you maintain diligence and vigilance, you’ll be surprised by how many security breaches you can thwart before they even become an issue for your business.</p><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: roboto; font-size: 1.5rem !important; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 2rem; outline: none;">Implement Basic Security Standards</h3><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Look, you might think we are making a big to-do about security, but the fact of the matter is that security really is that important. Poor security practices can make or break businesses much larger and more profitable than yours. Remember that no business is too small to become the target of a breach, and you should have proper security standards in place, like secure passwords and multi-factor authentication, to protect your company at all times.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">We’re Here to Help Businesses Operate Effectively and Securely, Regardless of Where Their Team Members are Working</span></p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-43910221141617095522023-05-17T13:17:00.001-04:002023-05-17T13:17:00.162-04:00Tip of the Week: Optimizing Your Business’ Technology in Three Ways<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Businesses cannot run without technology. This relationship has only grown more complicated and complex over time, and with so many businesses depending on their technology in ways never before seen, you’ll have to understand just how great of an impact your technology has on the way your organization runs. Here are three ways you can implement the right tools to see increased success.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJC2m65eMP1mRGomZNvtcxS-g8421vG00RQhzhICRlV1ZUatzUTjDLPR5L3ktL8YdFlsKyqTY0v_gHG6zAbd1KicJyyHleIilpVb-yWf2KlGB_aeQF9RLXGInlohf80FoPn9keKXo5MEyKbGutMVfTm5lISQseU3W694llCrHiU6HN59ItesR2Qdb8g/s400/businessTechnologyAbstract_361684918_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJC2m65eMP1mRGomZNvtcxS-g8421vG00RQhzhICRlV1ZUatzUTjDLPR5L3ktL8YdFlsKyqTY0v_gHG6zAbd1KicJyyHleIilpVb-yWf2KlGB_aeQF9RLXGInlohf80FoPn9keKXo5MEyKbGutMVfTm5lISQseU3W694llCrHiU6HN59ItesR2Qdb8g/s320/businessTechnologyAbstract_361684918_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7291" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JJj0jA">Invest in Mobility</a></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Businesses are not confined to the office the way they used to be. Any place can become your office with the right mobile technology solutions. Depending on the circumstances, you might encounter times when it is actually preferable to work in one location over another, like if you are sick with a viral disease. Naturally, it makes sense that you should take steps toward providing everyone with the tools they need in a mobile-friendly environment like the cloud.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Be Intentional with Your Network Design</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Hardwired networks do provide benefits, but again, so too does a Wi-Fi connection. In order to get the most value out of your Internet connection, you’ll have to be strategic with which devices use your hardwired connection versus your wireless connection. How far will your wireless travel, and which devices need to maintain constant uptime with little room for error? Focusing on these issues now will save you a lot of time when you have to reexamine your infrastructure later on, after your business has grown a bit.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Accept Help from Experts</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Chances are that even with an internal IT department, there is plenty of work to go around. An internal department might even be overwhelmed or overworked to get everything done, leading to, well, things just not getting done. Considering the plethora of tasks that must be accomplished, ranging from monitoring a network, securing it, providing assistance to your staff, and implementing new solutions, it’s no wonder that even a dedicated IT department could get burnt out or overlook tasks.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Instead of overworking your staff, you can instead turn to Net It On, LLC and outsource some of these responsibilities, making everyone’s lives easier. In fact, an MSP can be just as effective as an internal IT department, particularly if you don’t have an internal team to supplement. Regardless, however, we are sure that your business can benefit from having more IT professionals around.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-87587171834109169652023-05-10T13:14:00.005-04:002023-05-10T13:14:00.146-04:00The Evolution of Internet Speeds<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With the Internet cementing itself as one of the best tools to get work done, it’s easy to forget just how sluggish it used to be back when it first became available for use. Internet speeds have undergone some dramatic shifts over the years, so let’s remember the good old days when it took ages to do just about anything with it.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3YRAVbQ" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Q4sbe4VuRtO3EBk-mtI_feLYYjoftmDqhd1yf5CBzxr1MY0sx9ZdW6abPOowte7CLfJbNAj4aLTmysNaQUdmv0hB5jWukFQMG8DiJ08d3HUc_8Gu-s3mYS1a3UuB1gWRUAHJ5o8Mz9fiz1Cvw-lQUCsLkgih8iHOk-6qesSqjIxtxR34eOBxnuVOrw/s320/fiberOpticCableInternet_551357703_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7307" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Internet speeds are measured in megabits. 1,000 kilobits (technically 1,024 KB) is equivalent to 1 megabit and 1,000 megabits (technically 1,024 MB) is equivalent to 1 gigabit. Keep these numbers in mind as we discuss Internet speeds and their development over the years.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Dial Up</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Can you believe that it’s only been about 25 years since the Internet became widely accessible in offices and homes? It was first introduced to the mass market through the use of dial up Internet, which used the phone line to connect. In the 1990s, people would have one telephone line for both the telephone and the computer. If an individual wanted to connect to the Internet, they would be charged for long distance—even if the “call” was to the next village or city over.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Around 2000, the average modem was 56 KB/s with an uninterrupted signal. A one-megabyte image would take about 20 seconds to download. This snail’s-pace speed by today’s standards was enough to make instant messaging and email possible, but other media-based activities would take days or weeks to transmit across the connection.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">DSL</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">“High-speed” Internet became popular as we moved into the 2000s. DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, utilized cable connections, allowing ISPs to transmit data at much faster speeds compared to dial up. The bandwidth of a cable was able to transfer much more data compared to the traditional telephone wire. In fact, DSL was so revolutionary that it still makes up the vast majority of connections you’ll find out there. A DSL connection is capable of delivering speeds of up to 100 MB/s, but realistically, it is more likely to be around the 5 MB-to-20 MB/s range.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">This large increase in speed allows for much more in terms of the work you can do. Cloud-hosted email, for example, can be utilized with these speeds, along with music streaming and website browsing. Around 2010, when DSL became widely available, there was a huge burst of application development utilizing the speeds—a new trend which is still happening to this day. Even video streaming, in the grand scheme of things, is quite new, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the inception of DSL connections.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Fiber Optic</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Of course, there is also the fiber optic cable option, which is what many of today’s fastest Internet speeds utilize. Fiber optic uses light to transmit data, and is therefore much faster than DSL connections. DSL cable systems lose speed and performance the farther the signal must go, but with fiber optic, Internet speeds and bandwidth are exponentially better. Fiber optic is capable of speeds of up to tens of gigabits per second. Absolutely wild stuff.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Mobile computing has only further changed this fact, as people rely more on Wi-Fi signals than ever before. Otherwise people would be exceeding their data caps more frequently. Fiber has given people access to much faster connections—connections that systems and businesses rely on to function. It’s made working from home easier and more efficient, online schooling and telehealth more accessible, real-time data collection much simpler, and communication and collaboration more reliable.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">If you’re curious about your current Internet speeds (and you should be), you can use free Internet speed test applications, like the one found at <a href="https://www.speedtest.net/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-out 0s;">https://www.speedtest.net/</a>. This should give you a decent enough look at your Internet speed</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-58155212056470140202023-05-03T13:12:00.005-04:002023-05-03T13:12:00.164-04:00You Can’t Outsource Everything: 3 Parts of Your Business that Need to Remain In-House<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Businesses today have more options than ever before for their needs. With so many vendors available outside your typical in-house office environment, you can get most of the services you need via outsourcing. That said, there are certain processes you shouldn’t outsource, even if you think it might be a good idea.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3lhb2og" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4amCW_oYA7dy2DIB1SNRmguidX2p1XJ09ZFPDyFiUWRjPxjWZM699wfkONGEVxb0Kb4irqNrTJAQiAqlHMezxaO_3kyjRojPUvDKEkMyYyiZxc_D0F4wMPlg939vfsNj_AshM3jmQSDjMPR7Y397XkiC6xvobn4R8IFM_fIPzrP15W5Dx5SnBNYND2Q/s320/businessOpps_516905590_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7293" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Administration</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">You shouldn’t be outsourcing the jobs of people who run the company, and we can say this with confidence for a couple of reasons. For one, why should employees follow the vision of someone who doesn’t even work in your office? Furthermore, what real vested interest do third-party administrators have in your success? Outsourcing project implementation is one thing, but outsourcing the administrative infrastructure of your business is another entirely, and not a good idea.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Onboarding and Offboarding</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Some businesses outsource their human resources functions, which is perfectly reasonable, as there can be a lot of value from doing so. That said, you shouldn’t have all of the functions of a human resources team be handled by a third party. You’ll want to ensure that talent acquisition in particular, as well as letting go of people, is handled in-house. This is because you want to ensure that you get and keep the right talent for your company, which is something that an outsourced human resources department will have trouble keeping up with.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Product Development</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Your products and services are the core reasons your organization is in business. Why should you continue to work with others to help them? Whoever is in charge of developing your offerings needs to have an intimate knowledge of your consumers, as well as your company’s values. You can’t expect any third-party provider to know these things, and you shouldn’t need to.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Outsourcing opens up plenty of opportunities to improve operations for your business, including outsourcing some or all of your IT operations to a provider.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-57814381540138645922023-04-26T13:10:00.001-04:002023-04-26T13:10:00.156-04:00<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Email is crucial to the success of any business, but it also might contain sensitive information that is meant for the eyes of your organization—and its clients—only. Most modern email platforms give you tools you need to secure your email solution, so let’s go over how you might enable these features and what they look like.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3yGoipu" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3telMsxxMxAQwz34theG3DKXaHqd9S0orfB74ILxSGPkW1aiLTR7m58Vm-LhDuDcHW2cQHywKVIJzZYdMx6fXB4Awfq8_b7CRa-FKeOGlYmg98GV7gk3WMEp0qL4CigX6cQdPmLlMvPLldWUOfQxmkGDCl0B0EIRUKjCl-bubDdIg1R6_4ydOV8C0DQ/s320/emailSecurity_30213417_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7311" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">For the purposes of this blog, we’ll use Gmail and Microsoft Outlook as the main examples. Of course, you can rely on us if you have further questions about your IT security, or IT solutions in general.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">How to Secure Emails in Gmail</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">There are a couple of options at your disposal for Gmail. For example, you can seal an email using a password that is delivered to a designated phone number. This is Confidential Mode, and it’s one way you can guarantee that the message is only readable by the intended recipient. Furthermore, they cannot copy, forward, download, or print the message.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Here are the steps you need to take, outlined below:</p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding-left: 30px;"><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Open</span> Gmail and start a new message by clicking <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Compose</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">You’ll find a small <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">lock icon</span> at the bottom of the message window. <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Clicking</span> it will activate Confidential Mode.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">You can then set an expiration date for your message, with the options <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">One day</span>, <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">One week</span>, <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">One month</span>, <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Three months</span>, or <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Five years</span>.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">You can then protect your encrypted message via an <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">SMS Passcode</span>, where you set the access code and can have it sent directly to the recipient’s mobile device. If you skip the password option by selecting <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">No Passcode</span>, recipients will only be able to view the message, not download or copy from it.</li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">This process applies to each of the attachments on the email, so you can really get a lot of value from this protection.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Businesses using a paid Google Workspace account can also use encryption (S/MIME, or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) to protect their emails. This is because they are hosted on a dedicated email server and you can implement such advanced features.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">How to Secure Emails in Outlook</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Outlook also comes with a feature to protect your emails, but it’s called Open Message Encryption. It’s something you can access through any email provider, and it can help to protect your messages from interception or being forwarded and/or printed by the recipient. It’s also quite simple to implement.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">In the Outlook Web App:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding-left: 30px;"><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Start a new message by clicking the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">New message</span> button.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Click the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Encrypt</span> button you’ll find in the message window.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Above the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">To</span> button, you’ll see the option to <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Change permissions</span>. Select it.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">You’ll be able to select the appropriate level of permissions for that message.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Complete your message, and click <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Send</span>.</li></ul><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">In the Outlook Desktop App:</span></p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding-left: 30px;"><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Navigate to the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Home</span> tab and select <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">New Email</span>.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">A message window will appear. Click into the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Options</span> tab.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Click into <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Permissions</span>, and select the appropriate permissions to apply to the message.</li><li aria-level="1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline: none;">Complete your message, and click <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; outline: none;">Send</span>.</li></ul>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-53295085431933806342023-04-19T13:07:00.005-04:002023-04-19T13:07:00.167-04:00Will Blockchain Technology Improve Security?<p> <span style="color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The blockchain is a technology that has really taken off in the past couple of years, with many people asking if the same technology behind cryptocurrencies can be applied to other uses and applications. Let’s consider how the blockchain might be used outside of cryptocurrency and in various industries—particularly for security—in the future.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNX9su_rT7ogBWL_XY125HSB-FxslAhC5y7plFev-kiQYyFwrKt99GLVUgUZVUnPfLx29djDEq9ak5disHze_h2jWRGM2OI5af2Okb4oKeInASn6AVHZ3o4qMHd40CYn4Xlrw9-HMH4Uo5J59Xd3nrvnRHGX62rSS9pOgXNkhXRULeHJ0rAgwklAXnlQ/s400/blockchainSecurity_531824030_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNX9su_rT7ogBWL_XY125HSB-FxslAhC5y7plFev-kiQYyFwrKt99GLVUgUZVUnPfLx29djDEq9ak5disHze_h2jWRGM2OI5af2Okb4oKeInASn6AVHZ3o4qMHd40CYn4Xlrw9-HMH4Uo5J59Xd3nrvnRHGX62rSS9pOgXNkhXRULeHJ0rAgwklAXnlQ/s320/blockchainSecurity_531824030_400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span id="more-7297" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none;"></span><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JEWE2A">What is the Blockchain?</a></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">Also known as distributed ledger technology, the blockchain is a way of sharing data via peer-to-peer networks and computer systems. This might encompass thousands of computers in total, all working to share data to each other. The really interesting part, however, is that each process or transaction amongst these computers is recorded in a ledger. This effectively builds a decentralized and trustworthy chain of records.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">This is important for security, as you can’t go back to change one record without changing every single other record following it.</p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c52f2d; font-family: roboto; font-size: 2.35rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 32.9px; margin: 1.5rem 0px 1rem !important; outline: none;">Decentralization is Key Here for Security</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">The basic idea is this: many organizations use centralized servers, so hackers have one easy target to strike to bring down an infrastructure through, say, a Distributed Denial of Service attack.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">If the theoretical defender were to be using blockchain technology for security, however, the attack would not be so easy to pull off. Instead of targeting one server, the attacker would now have to target the entire blockchain to pull off the same attack. Otherwise, the rest of the blockchain would reject the attack, seeing there would be a change in one of the attacked nodes and rejecting that change in kind.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #50668f; font-family: Montserrat, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: none;">This might be a bit of an oversimplification, but it doesn’t need to be a complex description in order to see the value in this kind of innovation.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-78085045133129798922023-04-12T13:05:00.005-04:002023-04-12T13:05:00.164-04:00Tip of the Week: Five Simple Steps Towards a More Productive BusinessIf asked, most business owners would likely rank “improving productivity” as one of their overall business goals—and for obvious reasons. Often less obvious, however, is how to go about accomplishing this particular goal. Here, we’ve put together five different but equally effective ways to do so.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivQVmJ31ZCxmriafuAydaqp3T-NJ46DiUZyfjh9TuzqBx8oy_HZIELegp8uRjtSbrM5mHAWNV-r35-OUbh7nkG6iCYvCE2zq51d6hPurTPogV5BTYbT5YhhUOzIJoUg8HQ-9Q7z1ZiIGILcu9LZ5lTJ_N7NlyxnxbVzUJaqjBX8I6iyaXHajOhcRDoA/s400/productiveWork_525215214_400.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivQVmJ31ZCxmriafuAydaqp3T-NJ46DiUZyfjh9TuzqBx8oy_HZIELegp8uRjtSbrM5mHAWNV-r35-OUbh7nkG6iCYvCE2zq51d6hPurTPogV5BTYbT5YhhUOzIJoUg8HQ-9Q7z1ZiIGILcu9LZ5lTJ_N7NlyxnxbVzUJaqjBX8I6iyaXHajOhcRDoA/s320/productiveWork_525215214_400.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://amzn.to/3JmNDtu">Include Wellness Initiatives in Your Benefits</a>
It should come as no surprise that any person’s productivity is going to be intrinsically tied to their overall state of being. Do they feel healthy? Are they stressed? Research has shown that the answers to these questions are directly tied to workplace performance, and it probably won’t shock you to hear that the better off your employees are, the more your business tends to benefit from it.
Therefore, any investment that you make into the overall well-being of your team can be considered, at least tangentially, an investment back into your business. Consider adding support for fitness programs and other holistic health activities into your benefits package if at all possible, and try to shape your company culture to focus more on your team’s well-being.
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
What do your current business goals and objectives look like? What strategies do you have in place to accomplish these goals and objectives? While everyone loves it when a plan comes together, making that plan too convoluted only makes it less attainable.
When establishing business goals on any scale, you really do want to keep it simple. A straightforward plan with clear and achievable benchmarks established makes it far easier to not only communicate this goal, but determine the benchmarks and tasks that need to be met and fulfilled in order to accomplish it. A good way to do this is to follow the SMART goal format:
Specific – What exactly is it that you want to achieve or accomplish?
Measurable – Which metrics will determine your success?
Attainable – Is the goal or benchmark you’re setting something that can realistically be accomplished?
Relevant – Why is it that this goal is important to the greater mission or purpose you are striving towards?
Timely – When specifically should this goal be accomplished?
Following this format will help you to make simpler, and critically, more effective goals for your team to strive for.
Streamline Notorious Time Wasters
On a related note, we all know that there are certain things in the office that eat up time—and sometimes, these things don’t necessarily need to be involved when there are alternatives available. Does a conversation really require a full meeting, or could it be conveyed perfectly well through an email, or even an instant message? Has a certain process grown to be too clunky to actually be of any value? Identifying these kinds of time sinks and reevaluating your approach can help nurture more opportunities to accomplish other things.
Likewise, it is important to strike a balance in your company culture. While the type of casual conversation associated with the water cooler is important (some might argue, critical) for team morale and collaboration, it is important not to overcorrect and have camaraderie turn into commotion. The same goes for activities like personal social media usage during work hours. Limiting these potential distractions to a reasonable, healthy level can help keep employees more engaged while actively working.
Invest Time in Evaluating Your Goals
Back on the subject of your business’ goals, you don’t want yours to go stale. Circumstances change all the time. Your goals might have to do the same in response. Make sure you are taking the time every so often to examine your progress towards accomplishing the benchmarks you’ve set and making tweaks to account for the situation you are in at a given time. Let’s say you had set a goal—ideally, using the SMART method described above—that pertained to a certain project, but the team member who was leading the charge suddenly had to go on leave. How will you adapt your process to account for this change, and how will this impact the goal you’ve set? Checking in and reconsidering what is reasonable will help you be more productive by simply maintaining your team’s motivation.
Discourage Hustle Culture
Hustle culture may sound like something to strive for to reach maximum productivity, but the opposite is often true. “Rise and grind,””work hard, play hard,””your goals don’t care how you feel,” and other mantras like them don’t always inspire productivity the way they can inspire workplace burnout and disconnection.
Want to know what can inspire and enable productivity? Things like a healthy work/life balance, breaks, and vacation time. It all ties back to the wellness aspects we discussed earlier. A well-rested and refreshed worker is a worker who can usually accomplish more than one who is, to use another maxim, “burning the candle at both ends.”Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-71124892231731708422023-04-05T13:02:00.001-04:002023-04-05T13:02:00.161-04:00Tip of the Week: Mellow Out When Things Aren’t Going Your WayThere is a lot made of the importance of productivity when it comes to running a business. Of course, without a consistent output, revenue growth is impossible. As a result, many workers expect the same kind of effort that they give. When they don’t see that effort, tensions can get high and they can get stressed out pretty easily. Today, we will go through a couple of tips that will help you maintain composure when your job delivers more stress than you’d like. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgay0u0sWXHm4ztRN2F-kS0k7qB20DamQVqyebjs6xN8LKkU5DlATU4_JMU6608H1e_kETOZdNf3TIAW4vmwzh6OITCaT0aldh6MYW-c_orPF6EUuSkAWhpHPaa5qd2sZdyY9WR4WOqmD7XZX5zkNOnChNVer4l2CyADvBvjTP9NukDYvCGwr_qIqxZcg/s400/employeeAcquisition_356159582_400.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgay0u0sWXHm4ztRN2F-kS0k7qB20DamQVqyebjs6xN8LKkU5DlATU4_JMU6608H1e_kETOZdNf3TIAW4vmwzh6OITCaT0aldh6MYW-c_orPF6EUuSkAWhpHPaa5qd2sZdyY9WR4WOqmD7XZX5zkNOnChNVer4l2CyADvBvjTP9NukDYvCGwr_qIqxZcg/s320/employeeAcquisition_356159582_400.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://amzn.to/3JmNciQ">Stress is a Ruiner</a>
One of the problems with stress is that it clouds rational judgment. When people get stressed out at work it can severely hinder their work performance because they aren’t focused on the job at hand, but on the stressors. Work isn’t always a cakewalk, especially if you are stressed out. Before we give you a couple of tips on how to cope, let’s identify some of the most common reasons people are stressed out at work:
Too much work
No available upward mobility
Unclear instructions
Unreasonable demands
Frustrating work environment
Financial or personal problems
Regardless of what the problem is, the more stressed out a person is, the worse his/her performance will be. Let’s take a look at three things you can do to reduce workplace stress:
Keep Track of Your Stressors
It doesn’t matter if that guy at the desk near you is a slob and his desk looks like your kitchen after you cook a three-course meal or you simply didn’t get enough sleep and are grouchy, you need to identify what is bothering you and when it does. One thing you can do is track these stressors in a work journal. By recording your thoughts, feelings, and notes about your work environment, you will be able to better identify the problems and create healthy responses for them.
Establish Boundaries
It is more difficult than ever for people to create boundaries between their work life and their home life; especially if they work from home. If one part of your life is creating stress, it is best to keep it away from the other part. Create and stick to rules governing when you can and can’t work. For example, if you are habitually checking work notifications at times when you should be relaxing or focusing on family or other important things, you need to set a rule that you aren’t allowed to look at your work notifications at these defined times.
Communicate
Most bosses don’t ask what their role is: it is to make sure their people are productive. This is not to say that most people want to push their subordinates to the limit of their sanity. If you explain your problem to your manager, there is a good chance that they will do something to help you better manage your business tasks. No one wants burnt out employees, so having a frank conversation about your situation can go a long way toward reducing your stress.
While work isn’t always going to be easy, it doesn’t have to be so hard that you are tearing your hair out. Companies that choose to outsource some of their responsibilities have a tendency to see better productivity and efficiency than those that do everything in-house. The IT professionals at Net It On, LLC provide a lot of value with our managed IT services and can help you have a more efficient and effective workplace cultureDominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-71420679594053692952023-03-29T13:00:00.001-04:002023-03-29T13:00:00.161-04:00Your Productivity is Tied to How Happy Your Team IsThe best thing you can do for your employees is provide a good work experience, but what do we mean when we say this? In essence, you spend a lot of time trying to find the best fit for your organization, so you want to invest a solid amount of effort into making sure they stick around. This goes beyond compensation; you should consider the following for your business’ work experience.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVG9GBH1_VoMk_nD9qHGxzwKw2qb6-HXiCFJZU84CSwKZO-v6J4n4w60CMb_W6nE9osBwz1mqiU6pvunlqgl3HoqRdI0GeIcwhCJ4NqjJaTMBUIpUCGVJzZcFWI6dZJsL_ydI38N81xwn-mNP89ypXqbAfZQzAFBD3wENfbufzvJc0Pjg3kNq58-Bt5g/s400/team.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVG9GBH1_VoMk_nD9qHGxzwKw2qb6-HXiCFJZU84CSwKZO-v6J4n4w60CMb_W6nE9osBwz1mqiU6pvunlqgl3HoqRdI0GeIcwhCJ4NqjJaTMBUIpUCGVJzZcFWI6dZJsL_ydI38N81xwn-mNP89ypXqbAfZQzAFBD3wENfbufzvJc0Pjg3kNq58-Bt5g/s320/team.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://amzn.to/3mNY0yR">Employee Turnover is Expensive</a>
You know that hiring and training employees is costly, and it goes beyond just their initial low level of productivity. Onboarding new talent can cost anywhere between 1-1.5 times the position’s salary for someone who has been at your business for five years. This number only increases as the responsibilities do; that’s a lot of investment for someone who could jump ship at any moment.
Here’s How to Foster a Solid Work Experience
Your mission is simple: keep your employees from jumping ship. Unfortunately, it’s not nearly as simple as we make it out to be, as there are countless variables that can be considered for retaining employees. You can start by just making their experiences with your business more meaningful. Here are a couple of ways to do this:
Follow Through on Your Mission
Employees don’t like when things swing too far in one direction without any explanation or notice. Some of the issues employees might have is hiring/firing people, operational changes, and policies or procedures that are either undercooked or underenforced. These are all organizational issues and should be treated as such. Take a moment to think about your company’s long-term goals and stick to them. Don’t change them too much, unless the market forces you to do so, and your employees should see that you are trying to make the most out of their valuable skills and time.
Care What Others Say
People value when their voices are heard. You can preemptively solve a lot of problems simply by listening to your employees and addressing their concerns as appropriate. Plus, people like to be involved and to know that their feedback is helpful for the future of the organization, so if you show them that their presence matters, they will be more likely to stick around to see how they can change things for the better.
Encourage Social Activity
A little social activity and camaraderie-building in the office can go a long way toward people being happy and comfortable with their workplace. People spend most of their waking hours in the workplace, which is a sobering fact in and of itself, so your employees should at least get to know and enjoy being around each other to at least an acceptable level. Better work relations means better collaboration and more productivity, after all.Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-76926020861422422962023-03-22T12:58:00.002-04:002023-03-22T12:58:00.171-04:00Today’s Businesses Shouldn’t Go Without a VPNLet me ask you a question: how do you balance the prevalence of remote work with the fact that a lot of company resources should only be stored on-site? A VPN—or virtual private network—provides the answer for many businesses. Let’s examine what a VPN actually is, and how it helps to protect your business’ data as you access it from outside of your business’ secure network.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0FeQmCUQGfuCljmqt3S_yKnmq15lCSUe__zgSK9S3K8eRmDitN2cy8Hxx4SRGXq35Pb4fZhyhq5osprPtf8hNRHT51qCBPnu-nQ8AMK054pcdctG5d3OB4jLGhFxXJPGKy9PKfpBkVcDkn0gf0JvLxmN8Wy-QGyAvnUFsTqkz57DGUWWKBhtEC0jkBA/s400/VPN_452373227_400.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0FeQmCUQGfuCljmqt3S_yKnmq15lCSUe__zgSK9S3K8eRmDitN2cy8Hxx4SRGXq35Pb4fZhyhq5osprPtf8hNRHT51qCBPnu-nQ8AMK054pcdctG5d3OB4jLGhFxXJPGKy9PKfpBkVcDkn0gf0JvLxmN8Wy-QGyAvnUFsTqkz57DGUWWKBhtEC0jkBA/s320/VPN_452373227_400.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://amzn.to/40bTI2D">So, What is a VPN?</a>
In simple terms, a VPN is a dedicated network connection specifically configured to send and receive data securely. This means that, since you don’t want your business’ data visible to the world, it is critical such a connection is used when your team is remotely accessing your local network. By putting a VPN in place, you can ensure that your entire organization has access to a secure connection that will connect them to whatever data they are authorized to access.
How Does a VPN Work?
The key to a VPN’s inherent security is the encryption that is applied to your data as it is in transit. By encrypting the data as it travels, all a snooping hacker will be able to see is a jumbled mess, protecting your information. The VPN even hides your location, giving our hypothetical hacker effectively nothing to work with.
Why Do You Need a VPN?
It all comes down to trust, and the lack of it that you should have for public Wi-Fi connections. While undeniably intended to be convenient, public hotspots like those you’d find in an airport or your favorite coffee place just aren’t nearly secure enough to entrust your data to. Using a VPN allows you to take advantage of this convenience without this otherwise deal-breaking security tradeoff influencing your business.
Your data is more than information, after all—it’s what keeps your business going. As such, losing it or having it compromised could mean you could potentially lose your business. Planning ahead can help prevent this, especially with the help of Net It On, LLC and our team of IT pros. We’ll set you up with a VPN and the rest of the technology needed to enable secure and productive work wherever you may be.Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-52080186081159018512023-03-15T12:53:00.004-04:002023-03-15T12:57:12.451-04:00Tip of the Week: Adding a Web Shortcut to Your DesktopKeyboard shortcuts are great ways to make your workday just a little more efficient without much effort. Did you know that you can make a keyboard shortcut on your Windows computer that can direct you to a specific webpage? Let’s go over how you can make it happen.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2ijMOlK1vAnmeCQlJ4P5GUnoo6tBQC6U5kmxsGawWzhfexo8-IZvO7Hi_Q3lIrjAOGrdKGAaYdP_YHK_j4wuCgBqbEljjCAk66ZL1vHHAir_BNBqSVU9wloUFZ8UkAIog9oagc5l-BBQEvBjBR3IHQj-p4QGgwwH2OB5G5HDQL9wdY44VEpmZk6_ng/s400/shortcut.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2ijMOlK1vAnmeCQlJ4P5GUnoo6tBQC6U5kmxsGawWzhfexo8-IZvO7Hi_Q3lIrjAOGrdKGAaYdP_YHK_j4wuCgBqbEljjCAk66ZL1vHHAir_BNBqSVU9wloUFZ8UkAIog9oagc5l-BBQEvBjBR3IHQj-p4QGgwwH2OB5G5HDQL9wdY44VEpmZk6_ng/s320/shortcut.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://amzn.to/3yJ6jil">There are a couple of ways you can make your keyboard Internet shortcut.</a>
Manually
To manually make your keyboard Internet shortcut, right-click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut. When the dialog box opens, type the website URL in the box that appears, then select Next. You’ll then be prompted to give your new shortcut a name. Once you’re ready, click Finish. Your new icon will appear on your desktop.
Now, when you right-click it, you can select Properties to see information about the shortcut. From here, you can change the URL, assign a shortcut key, and change the icon. Click in the Shortcut key box, then type the key you would like to use for your new shortcut. The key combination will then appear in the box.
Click-and-Drag
To save yourself a step, you can simply click-and-drag the shortcut’s URL to your desktop to make the shortcut a bit faster and more easily. This also assigns your shortcut a name in the form of the website page’s name. From here, you can right-click the shortcut, select Properties, and see the same information that you could see in the above step.
And that’s all there is to it! Now you can make custom keyboard shortcuts for your favorite websites. Alternatively, you could just use bookmarks in your browser, but the more tools you have at your disposal, the better.Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-37885514043103781252021-12-29T15:38:00.001-05:002021-12-29T15:38:00.195-05:00Tip of the Week: Understanding Your 2FA Options<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Regardless of how airtight your organization’s password policies are, relying on passwords as your exclusive security measure just isn’t enough to resist some of today’s threats. This is why we—along with most other industry and security experts—recommend that two-factor authentication (2FA) be put into place. Let’s review some of the options available for your 2FA, and the added security it can introduce, for this week’s tip.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTt__umdrvd-5J8qajPzArJ43GO4bwsoGP-cWXbu5_j5sx5860McUY_jMz9Ahmw6KMyHANnSliIkS4nBeWn2ttkpvXZkTHMyPtGD6unpBod1vVDmScavfMDF5fjaK5qV5M4LRYZ6GY_WcT/s400/431838582_2fa_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTt__umdrvd-5J8qajPzArJ43GO4bwsoGP-cWXbu5_j5sx5860McUY_jMz9Ahmw6KMyHANnSliIkS4nBeWn2ttkpvXZkTHMyPtGD6unpBod1vVDmScavfMDF5fjaK5qV5M4LRYZ6GY_WcT/s320/431838582_2fa_400.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">First of all, we should clarify something: any 2FA is better than relying on a password alone. There are three ways for a password to be undermined, after all. It could be stolen, guessed, or cracked through software. Boosting your security with an additional confirmation of your identity gives those who would attack one of your accounts an extra hurdle to clear, which is why you should embrace every opportunity to use it… especially in the professional setting.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">What Kinds of 2FA Are There?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">There are a few different varieties of 2FA you can choose from.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; line-height: 20.16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">SMS</h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Basically, when you try to login into an account, a secondary code is sent to your mobile device for you to provide. Not only is this a convenient and user-friendly option, but it is also accessible thanks to how often people will have their mobile device in the vicinity (if not on their person). While not the most secure option available thanks to phishing attacks, using text-based 2FA is still a safer option than foregoing 2FA altogether.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; line-height: 20.16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Apps</h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Authentication applications function by kicking out a refreshed code every minute or so that must be input into the requested field before the time expires. As a result, the mobile device serves as an extra key that the person accessing a resource needs in order to open it. Again banking on the near-symbiotic relationship many people develop with their mobile devices, the tradeoff here is that the device needs to be powered on and ideally present… so forgetting the phone at home could seriously hinder productivity.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; line-height: 20.16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Hardware</h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">You know that key analogy we made with the authentication apps? Modern hardware authentication solutions are the more literal interpretation of this concept. Requiring the user to plug a token or a USB dongle into their hardware or press a button on the device, this method has surged in popularity with phishing and other scams being so commonly used. While these keys have a price, it is comparatively small to what a data breach could result in.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; line-height: 20.16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Biometrics</h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">We’ve all seen the spy films, where an authority figure accesses a super-secret lair or lab by having their iris scanned, their handprint analyzed, and other similar tests. Biometric authentication is the practical application of that and is now found on devices as common as a smartphone. While useful, its convenience can be tempered by some solutions being less accurate than others.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">The Best Option for You is the One You’ll Use</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">It’s really as simple as that. While the above options aren’t all as secure as the others, they each are undoubtedly better when the alternative is protecting your precious data with a crackable password.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-31507502175482200012021-12-22T15:36:00.001-05:002021-12-22T15:36:00.167-05:00The FCC is Using an App to Fix Internet Inequality<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Connectivity to high-speed, broadband Internet has quickly transitioned from a convenient luxury to a practical need for personal life and business alike. Considering this, it seems amazing that Internet access isn’t nearly as equally distributed as the need for it is. However, the Federal Communications Commission is calling on the public to help them change that by downloading an application that they first released in 2013: FCC Speed Test.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDsI4nPMB91pRGCF68EW1E7ifAuU534xzNCwFgWgf-fg5CzcNwsoSKhBwW9iIUSzSPxgdYCeBiNdJ0iwS82NVskkHeUlxQLRZTVtcYADAoU1wAdq-I4zC-mn-qsNOeCOVbo_3293ZHM_d/s400/246333478_no_internet_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDsI4nPMB91pRGCF68EW1E7ifAuU534xzNCwFgWgf-fg5CzcNwsoSKhBwW9iIUSzSPxgdYCeBiNdJ0iwS82NVskkHeUlxQLRZTVtcYADAoU1wAdq-I4zC-mn-qsNOeCOVbo_3293ZHM_d/s320/246333478_no_internet_400.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Is Broadband Accessibility So Important?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Look at it this way: how much do you do every day that requires some form of Internet connectivity? Between shopping, consuming entertainment, keeping in touch with people, and (as we tend to focus on) working remotely, it’s becoming rare that something doesn’t involve Internet access nowadays.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">However, while this is the reality for many, just as many don’t have the opportunity to take advantage of the Internet for much at all, simply due to the lack of broadband connectivity in their region. To try and correct this, the FCC has taken action, reinvigorating their Speed Test application and campaigning for people to install it.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">What Does FCC Speed Test Do?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Assuming that enough people put the application to use, the FCC can use the app to collect data specifically concerning the quality of Internet services in different areas. Once this data is compiled, it will help inform them where the most pressing investments need to be made and their available funds divided up accordingly.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">By analyzing a Wi-Fi or mobile network’s baselines, including its upload speeds, download speeds, and latency, the app helps collect reliable data directly from the source: the networks being evaluated. While these evaluations run once every 24 hours by default, their schedule and data usage can be adjusted to fit your needs.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">The app will also test connection speeds, giving users a visual representation of where they stood at different times and in different locations. While FCC Speed Test does collect some data (including location, IP address, device type, operating system, and ISP) none of it is personally identifiable to the user.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samknows.fcc&hl=en_US&gl=US" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c93533; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Android </a>users and those running <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fcc-speed-test/id794322383" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c93533; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">iOS</a> alike can use the app. If you’d like to learn more, we encourage you to visit the FCC’s <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fcc-speed-test-app-tip-sheet" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c93533; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">FAQ page</a> about it.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Hopefully, these kinds of actions will bring a more accessible Internet to those areas lacking it, helping businesses and individual users alike. What do you think about these efforts? Is this an app you’d be willing to download? Share your thoughts in the comments!</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-91723729933901910452021-12-15T15:35:00.001-05:002021-12-15T15:35:00.161-05:00Cyberattacks are Happening Faster with Less Time for Early Detection<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In what sounds like a positive shift, cybersecurity experts have announced their research has found that cyberattacks are spending less time on the networks they infiltrate. Unfortunately, this isn’t such a clear-cut positive. Today, we’ll discuss “dwell time” and how less of it is a problem. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mudx353DESN4rWgEfYvWPgVo5LaN377dJo32irvdZ5UVShdxIWctpxHI3nG6pa0e-WVKQWUoSvOGehHjtqlJd-kawKf5qyuQAL4o7AtTWn6j6vVYhtv7__bXpchJl9CCsut44QttfjKd/s400/277079361_cybercrime_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mudx353DESN4rWgEfYvWPgVo5LaN377dJo32irvdZ5UVShdxIWctpxHI3nG6pa0e-WVKQWUoSvOGehHjtqlJd-kawKf5qyuQAL4o7AtTWn6j6vVYhtv7__bXpchJl9CCsut44QttfjKd/s320/277079361_cybercrime_400.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">What Is Dwell Time?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dwell time</strong> is a term that’s used a lot in technology. Typically, it is used to measure how long a user stays on a particular webpage, but in this context it is the duration a threat comes in contact with the network’s filter before it is detected by the software or a technician. You may be surprised to learn that in the latter context, the median dwell time for malicious code is 24 days. This may seem like an eternity, but just 10 years ago the median dwell time of a threat was well over a year at 416 days.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">It’s reasonable to assume that since people are more cognizant of web-based threats and therefore are investing more time and money into cybersecurity initiatives, that the number would shrink rapidly. It stands to reason that the shorter the dwell time is, the more apt a program designed to catch cybersecurity threats would be able to quarantine and eliminate the threat, right? Unfortunately, it’s not so simple. </p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">New Threats Complicate Things</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Many of the attacks we see today are far more sophisticated than they were a decade ago. Threats like ransomware, for instance, are now used more today, and dwell time isn’t as big of an issue. In fact, while your average attack method has a dwell time of 45 days, ransomware’s average is just five before it is deployed and causes you to be locked out of your files or systems. Ransomware doesn’t sit on the network, it is deployed and devastates quickly.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; line-height: 20.16px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Ransomware Is More Sophisticated</h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Today more hackers are deploying more ransomware than ever and it’s a major point of emphasis that every network administrator should understand. Not only that, ransomware tactics are becoming more aggressive. Now there is a situation called a “multifaceted extortion” where ransomware is deployed and instead of deleting or stealing the data, they threaten to publish it publicly. Most organizations would do anything to keep their intellectual property and the sensitive information of their clients, vendors, and workers confidential.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">It’s Not Just Ransomware</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Network administrators need to be aware that it’s not just ransomware they have to be on the lookout for. Unpatched software exploits have exponentially risen recently. In fact, over one-quarter of all hacks (29 percent) happen because hackers find an exploit in a business’ network. Phishing, which is often cited as the most dangerous hacking method only accounts for 23 percent. </p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Prepare Your Business’ Network</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">With the threat landscape the way it is, it is important that you diligently patch your software, keep your tools updated and actively train your employees to help you keep threats off your network. At Net It On, we can help. Give us a call at<tcxspan style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: underline;" tcxhref="tel:7323602999" title="Call (732) 360-2999 with 3CX Click to Call"> (732) 360-2999 </tcxspan>to learn more about how to ensure your business can navigate through the minefield that’s out there today.</p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-36050220139919491222021-12-08T15:34:00.001-05:002021-12-08T15:34:00.180-05:00YouTube Can Help Take Your Business Where You Want It to Go<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I think if you took a deep look at it that you are probably paying too much to train your employees. If you account for the cost of the resources and the time it takes to properly train someone, you are talking a substantial amount of money. There is a way to use YouTube to subsidize your training practices and get the information you need your new employees to see more cost-effectively. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbuI0nalvvl5y8LYeyorFodCIuYEIlkF6C4X8bCc3vgl-ZAf0VpvM4FJvdqpG20JqGF0xGvrto8jggzPGHsEvgYkXa322AFVBAjRtTCAGbRy0LjllZ2bbRjqtNlqhKqyfZ7GHlzujbTkRO/s400/269160283_YouTube_business_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbuI0nalvvl5y8LYeyorFodCIuYEIlkF6C4X8bCc3vgl-ZAf0VpvM4FJvdqpG20JqGF0xGvrto8jggzPGHsEvgYkXa322AFVBAjRtTCAGbRy0LjllZ2bbRjqtNlqhKqyfZ7GHlzujbTkRO/s320/269160283_YouTube_business_400.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">YouTube and Your Business</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Let’s not take a lot of time telling you about YouTube. If you don’t know what YouTube is you are in for a rude awakening once you see it. YouTube has billions of videos and that is a good thing for people. You can learn how to fix your car, care for your houseplants, or format that screenplay that has been in your OneDrive for the past ten years. For this reason, it is a great resource for business, as well as something that you need to keep an eye on.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">YouTube can end up costing your business quite a bit too.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Anyone that has been on YouTube knows that there are literally millions of hours of videos about any topic important to any human being. It’s a lot of content. In fact, according to Google, the parent company of YouTube, nearly five billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. This is why many organizations have chosen to block or limit the use of YouTube. 720,000 hours of new video content is updated every day, and a lot of it is video game and movie reviews.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">So, How Can I Use YouTube to Improve My Business?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">There are many ways to use YouTube to your business’ benefit, but we’re not going to get into marketing and content creation here. Really, all we want to impress on you is that no matter what your business does, there is a literal library of content out there that, if you use it properly, can be beneficial to your business. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Using existing YouTube content can help you educate your staff about your type of business goals, your culture, your market, the services you provide your customers, customer relationships, physical and cybersecurity, and much more. To do this, you’ll have to learn how to make a playlist. </p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">How Do I Make a Playlist?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Just as you would if you were making a music playlist, YouTube provides the ability to put together a playlist of videos. By choosing videos that can help improve the knowledge base of your staff, you can get them to quickly learn what you need them to learn to do their jobs more proficiently. Here’s how to do it:</p><ol style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">You find a YouTube video you want to add.</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Directly under the video, you will click the <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Add to</strong> button.</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">There will be a dropdown menu. Choose <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Create new playlist</strong>.</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Enter a name for the playlist.</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Choose any privacy settings you want to enact for the playlist. For businesses, we suggest <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">unlisted</strong>.</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Click <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">create</strong>.</li></ol><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">That’s it. Then you can add to the playlist by clicking on the <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Add to</strong> button under a video and placing it on the corresponding playlist. You will quickly find that the hardest part about building a playlist is watching content. Once your playlist is finished, however, you will reap the benefits as your staff will become more knowledgeable and start asking the right questions about how to do their jobs better. </p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4001536320880868455.post-28012870191778893182021-12-01T15:32:00.001-05:002021-12-01T15:32:00.158-05:00The Lessons to Learn from Coca-Cola’s Insider Trade Secret Theft<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In today’s business, your data is your number one asset. For this reason it is important that you take steps to protect it. One case that accentuates this is the case of Xiaorong You, which is currently playing out in a Tennessee court. The accused is charged with stealing trade secrets and committing corporate espionage, as she is accused of allegedly stealing almost $120 million worth of BPA-free technologies from several companies, among them the Eastman Chemical Company and Coca-Cola.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisljfzhu8Xd8bcg1Zi7CEL7DA9ef6X5qv0HaB0XmH3fYvLi2xk12UVZaGSNXwcOXUd32vwZqf8pu4L-nDJPM8JCv8VNxo5RbcTJ0O_UQnOKvFLyuhSw0xQCl9cdLgIzRO-b8qvbyjF3iDT/s400/279865779_insider_threat_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisljfzhu8Xd8bcg1Zi7CEL7DA9ef6X5qv0HaB0XmH3fYvLi2xk12UVZaGSNXwcOXUd32vwZqf8pu4L-nDJPM8JCv8VNxo5RbcTJ0O_UQnOKvFLyuhSw0xQCl9cdLgIzRO-b8qvbyjF3iDT/s320/279865779_insider_threat_400.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Let’s take a look at how these two companies deployed their threat detection systems and the effect they had on the companies. </p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">You’s Story</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Xiaorong “Shannon” You, a naturalized US citizen and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering, has worked at several companies since the early ‘90s. From December of 2012 to August of 2017, she worked for Coca-Cola as a principal engineer for global research, moving to the Eastman Chemical Company to work as a packaging application development manager from September of 2017 until June of 2018, when her employment was terminated.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">During her tenure at both companies, You was given access to many trade secrets that only a handful of employees were privy to. In the indictment, You is charged with retaining these secrets (despite affirming that she hadn’t in writing) and then handing them over to the People’s Republic of China in an attempt to qualify for its The Thousand Talents program. This program has been used before to introduce advanced technologies to China, with the Department of Justice having prosecuted some cases similar to You’s.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">Her modus operandi was that she retained this information by simply uploading data to her personal Google Drive account or captured especially sensitive information on her smartphone. Once she captured this data, You worked with a Chinese national named Xiangchen Liu to form a separate company in China that went ahead to use these trade secrets to begin revenue generation. They allegedly used an Italian BPA-free manufacturer to incorporate the stolen technologies onto their own products.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">The theft of this information impacted several companies, including Coca-Cola and The Eastman Chemical Company, AkzoNobel, Dow Chemical, PPG, TSI, Sherwin Williams, and ToyoChem. This led to the charges she currently faces.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Optima, Lucida, "MgOpen Cosmetica", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 5px;">How You’s Employers Could Have Stopped Such Activities</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">There were stark differences between the way that Coca-Cola and The Eastman Chemical Company handled these issues. You left Coca-Cola in August of 2017, but her indictment states that the crimes she’s charged with didn’t happen until 2019. This means that Coca-Cola had no knowledge of the theft until after she had been exposed by her later employer. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">This fact is indicative of two reasonable hypotheses:</p><ol style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Coca-Cola lacked the tools to detect such activities in real-time, making it far more difficult to prevent protected and sensitive data from successfully leaving the corporate environment.</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Coca-Cola also lacked the policies that could have prevented non-authorized devices from entering the workspace or otherwise being kept in proximity to sensitive company data or infrastructures. While old-fashioned, the concept of taking photographs of such information is no less effective for its age.</li></ol><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">If you compare that to You’s sudden dismissal from the Eastman Chemical Company, you would have to consider that they had the data protection standards implemented to catch would-be thieves pretty rapidly. If they hadn’t, the $120 million in trade secrets could have been substantially more. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Geneva, Tahoma, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">This just goes to show that any business can have the right idea about security, but not pay close enough attention to the details. Coca-Cola is a massive brand, but it couldn’t stop You from allegedly raking the company over the coals. </p>Dominick Branahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11053882301506443046noreply@blogger.com0