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Directive Blogs

Directive has been serving the Oneonta area since 1993, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

How a CRM Can Make Your Business Better

No matter your industry, size, or business model, satisfying your customers is crucial. Your business' survival depends on your ability to do this effectively.

To achieve this, it is essential to leverage every opportunity to deliver for your audience. One way to do this is through modern business technology, such as customer relationship management (CRM). Let's explore what a CRM is and why it's beneficial.

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What Should Employers Do About the “Act Your Wage” Trend?

In recent years, several workplace trends have emerged that many employers find challenging. One such trend is "quiet quitting," where employees do only the bare minimum required to keep their jobs. A more recent trend is to "act your wage."

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Malicious Apps

App stores are brimming with helpful tools and entertainment options, but hidden among these useful applications are malicious threats waiting to trip up unwary users.

In this Micro Training, learn more about the signs of suspicious apps so you can steer clear of the malicious ones and explore app stores with confidence.

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The Office Printer: Your Overlooked Cybersecurity Risk

When it comes to cybersecurity, office printers often fly under the radar. They're seen as simple, innocuous devices. It’s easy to have the mindset that there’s not much at risk—what, are the hackers going to waste some of my paper?

But here's the truth: your office printer is a potential cybersecurity risk, and a serious one at that.

Just like your computers and smartphones, printers are connected to your network. This makes them vulnerable to the same cyberthreats.

An unsecured printer can be an open door for hackers. They can use it to sneak into your business network.

In this article, we'll shed light on the overlooked aspect of office printer security. We'll also provide actionable advice on how to fortify your office printers against cyberthreats.

So, let's dive in and explore the world of office printer cybersecurity.

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Technology is Behind Great Marketing Strategies

With technology being such a massive part of business today, many organizations are looking to use it to their advantage. One aspect of the business that is increasingly significant is their ability to stand out amongst their competition. Let’s take a look at a few technologies that can improve your organizational marketing efforts.

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Let’s Review Your Facebook Privacy Protections

Last week we went through some of the issues that Facebook is dealing with in regards to its security and data privacy. Today, we thought it would be helpful to give you the tools you need to protect your privacy on Facebook.

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In the Wake of Hurricane Beryl, Consider Business Continuity

In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, businesses have another reason to reflect on data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity. Since the hurricane made landfall in Texas, despite being downgraded to a tropical storm, it still caused over $5 million in damage to islands across middle America.

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You Need Your Business’ IT to Match Your Business’ Size

Technology is an essential part of most business operations nowadays, regardless of the size of the business… and how that size may change over time. As such, it is essential that the infrastructure that supports this IT can adapt to these swells and declines.

Let’s discuss why it is so important that your IT infrastructure fits your business and a few best practices for tailoring it.

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How to Save a Website as an Application

If you feel like you have too many browser tabs open at any given time, then you'll be happy to know that you can sometimes save certain browser tabs as a standalone application on your device. This will give them their own icon and make accessing them much easier than constantly navigating to them through your web browser.

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Why Clean Data Is Important for Backend Processes

Businesses are constantly trying to find a way to best use their data. Whether it is creating a business intelligence strategy, integrating artificial intelligence, or for simple analytics, without having accurate, reliable data, the insights you derive can be misleading and end up costing you. That’s why it is important to know how to scrub or clean your data. Having access to clean data is essential for anyone involved in business intelligence or AI. Today, we will discuss the issue and give you a simple guide to help you get started.

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One-Time Password Scams

While one-time passwords can be a great way to verify a user’s identity, in the wrong hands, they can be used for harm.

In this Micro Training, we'll explore how cybercriminals are exploiting one-time passwords (OTPs) to carry out their scams.

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Productivity is Great… Here’s How to Encourage It

Productivity is extremely important for your business' ability to generate revenue and maintain consistent performance. Interestingly, many businesses face similar productivity challenges over time. What can small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) do to improve productivity when it starts to decline? Let's take a look at some strategies to keep productivity high. 

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Let’s Remind Ourselves How Meta’s Security Has Failed

Facebook remains one of the most visited places on the Internet. Meta (the parent company to Facebook) also features WhatsApp and Instagram on their roster and has faced numerous security and privacy failings over the years. In this week’s blog, we’ll take a brief look at some of the most noteworthy.

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The Value of a Printed Newsletter Should Not Be Underestimated

With so much focus on digital marketing nowadays, it can certainly be tempting to focus solely on these efforts… often, to the detriment of other forms, like print. We wanted to take a few moments to correct this temptation and talk about how print marketing, specifically in the form of printed newsletters, still has a lot of value to offer businesses… particularly, managed service providers.

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Microsoft Defender: An Example of Why Consumer-Grade Security is Not Enough

Windows Defender is Microsoft’s own antivirus solution, and it comes bundled with Windows, so it’s confusing to think that a business would need to pay for it, right? Well, there are actually two separate products called Defender, with a big difference between them.

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Staying Safe on Social Media in 2024

You can do everything in your power to secure your social media accounts and lock down your privacy settings. Still, at the end of the day, social media users expose themselves to a torrent of information and content every time they log on. As a civilization, we’ve never really had something like this before. These platforms curate content that the user wants to see to keep the user coming back and staying longer. It’s inherently designed to be enticing and addicting, which is dangerous for certain individuals.

Then, there are scams and an endless stream of grifts that pose a wide range of additional problems for users.

Let’s talk about ways you and those you care about can be safer on social media.

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Choosing the Right IT Consultant in Oneonta, NY

The business landscape is ever-evolving, and in today’s tech-driven world, having the right IT consultant by your side is not just an advantage—it's a necessity. Whether you’re a small mom-and-pop shop, a non-profit organization, or a larger business in Oneonta, New York, the expertise of a skilled IT professional can be the cornerstone of your operational success. From computer support to comprehensive IT solutions, the right technology partner can transform the way you do business.

In this guide, we’ll navigate the path to finding the best IT consultant in central New York that aligns with your organization’s needs, ensuring compliance and technological efficiency.

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Going Digital Saves Money on Document Storage and Collaboration

A successful business thrives on building beneficial relationships, which generates a lot of data and contracts that need to be efficiently shared and stored. While this might seem straightforward, leveraging today’s technology can significantly cut down on filing costs and enhance file-sharing efficiency. Let’s explore how.

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Protecting Your Identity and Privacy on Social Media in 2024

Social media is constantly evolving, and if the big social networks had it their way, it would be the only place people go when they log onto the Internet. Whether you have strong feelings for or against social media, or perhaps you are indifferent, it’s important to understand how to protect yourself when using social media.

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Tip of the Week: Zip and Unzip Compressed Files

Have you ever seen the file types that look like normal folders, but they have a zipper on the icon? These are ZIP files, and they are helpful for a variety of reasons. We’re sure you have encountered zipped files throughout your time using technology, and today, we want to demystify them a little bit and show you how to use them effectively.

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Big Business is Fueling AI Growth

With little fanfare, the AI Wars have begun. When we say “war” we mean just that: a battle for the survival of tools designed to improve human productivity. To start we should rewind a little. Most new software platforms (and many, many established ones) have started to use “artificial intelligence” to improve their products, or at least improve the prospect of selling them. In this week’s blog we will discuss the increased prevalence of “AI” and how some of the largest names in computing have gone all in on the technology.

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Do You Know Exactly What is Being Backed Up?

Data backup is essential for any business, yet many employees might not fully understand how it works or what gets backed up. Today, let's clarify the basics of data backup and its importance.

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Using AI to Dress Yourself Up for a Professional Selfie

While AI is far from perfect, I always love discovering ways that it can help do something mundane and speed up a workflow here or there. I’m no expert in Photoshop either, so if I need to edit something, I usually depend on someone with a little more experience, but this was a really neat trick I was able to do in just a few minutes!

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Social Media Cyber Safety Part 2

Last week, we uncovered common scams found on social media.

In this Micro Training, we share helpful tips on how to use social media more safely.

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Five Password Best Practices You Must Keep in Mind for 2024

Passwords have long been one of the central pillars of account security on the Internet. Combined with a username, they make up the foundation of most login systems. Because of this, they are a hot commodity for hackers who want to steal credentials and infiltrate accounts or networks. In recent years, however, other security measures have exposed the weakness of poor passwords for security, leading to the adoption of other measures.

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Browser Cookies Explained

When someone mentions cookies, people start paying attention. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodles… Browser? While Browser cookies aren’t the most scrumptious, they do need some attention. Nowadays, many websites you visit have a popup asking if they want to allow cookies for that site and knowing what you are agreeing to is important. In today’s blog, we will describe what cookies are, how they work, and why they can sometimes be better than cookies with chocolate chips. 

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Social Media Cyber Safety Part 1

Social media can be fun – but you should still use it with the same caution you use with any other online activity.

In this Micro Training, learn how to recognize common social media scams, such as phishing, account hijacking, and malware.

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Tip of the Week: Create Sticky Notes in OneNote

Note taking apps are really useful and Microsoft OneNote is one of the most available and feature rich apps on the market for this use. You are probably familiar with the sticky note. They are notes that give a solid visual representation of items that workers need to be cognizant of for all types of processes. In today’s blog, we will go through the process of creating “sticky notes” in OneNote.

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Encryption is One of the Most Valuable Tools Against Hackers

Encryption is a powerful weapon against hackers that can prevent them from stealing your data and leveraging it against you. Encryption, in its most basic textbook definition, converts your readable data into an indecipherable jumble that can only be reassembled through the use of an encryption key. Small businesses absolutely must utilize encryption to protect customer information, financial records, and other important or sensitive business data. This ensures that it is as protected as possible against those that might do you harm.

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Manage Guests and External Sharing in Teams

There will always be times when you have to invite guests and other external users to your Microsoft Teams meetings, especially if you want to take advantage of the many collaboration options offered through the platform. However, you need to be very careful with guests and external users–especially in today’s cybersecurity-centric world.

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This Cybersecurity Professional is Out to Scam the Scammers

Scammers look to take advantage of someone else for their own gain, but there are some scammers out there who are trying to scam the scammers to teach them a lesson. One such individual is “Kitboga,” a content creator who calls themselves a “scam baiter.”

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VoIP Can Be a Game Changer for Business

Everyone knows that a telephone system is a core component of a well-functioning business. Unfortunately, many businesses’ telephone systems haven’t advanced, but the way people do business has. If your business is paying a premium for its telephone system and isn’t getting the collaboration benefits needed to stay competitive, the answer might be VoIP.

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Tip of the Week: Three Practices to Reduce Consternation About Your Technology

Technology plays a massive role for most organizations nowadays, and not everyone always grasps the importance of it. Most of the time, there is so much built into today’s enterprise software that it can often be overwhelming for workers to use it effectively. Today, we will give you three tips on how to help employees get a grasp of the technology their productivity depends on.

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Cyber-Safe Travel Tips

Traveling can broaden your horizons and offer the chance to explore, but in today’s hyper-connected world, it can also make you more vulnerable to cybersecurity risks.

In this Micro Training, learn practical strategies to protect yourself from cyber threats while traveling.

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How to Minimize Cybersecurity Sprawl

Obviously, we won’t tell you to cut down on your cybersecurity. That said, it can be easy to overinvest and overreach if you aren’t careful about what you’re implementing. This phenomenon is known as cybersecurity sprawl, and if not prevented, it can easily have serious consequences for your business. Let’s go into how to avoid this sprawl.

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Six Huge Benefits of Remote IT Support

IT support is essential for businesses, but traditional on-site support can be expensive and inefficient.

Thankfully, remote IT support, such as that offered through managed services, is now available. This is a game-changer for small to medium-sized businesses. Let's explore the benefits of remote IT support.

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How Does the Google Search Engine Work?

Google Search is a cornerstone of the internet, used by billions of people daily to find information quickly and efficiently. But have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes when you type a query into Google and hit "search"? Let's dive into the intricate process that powers the world's most popular search engine.

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This Guy Scams the Scammers for a Living

When you think of a scammer, you probably think of someone looking to take advantage of someone for their own gain. While this isn’t wholly inaccurate, another variety exists to acknowledge… those who aim to scam the scammers. Let’s consider one such white-hat scammer, or “scam baiter,” a content creator who uses the alias “Kitboga,” Kit for short.

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How Much Does Modern Workplace Culture Rely on IT?

Today, IT is important for many things. It's not just a small part of a company… but how deeply is IT woven into modern workplace culture? Let's delve into how technology and culture coalesce in today's businesses.

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Ticketmaster Suffers Major Data Breach

The world’s largest ticket retailer is in hot water after their parent company, Live Nation Entertainment filed an 8-K filing with the Security and Exchange commission admitting that they had been hacked to the tune of 1.3 terabytes of information. That amounts to 560 million customers’ personal information that has been stolen from the company’s servers. Today, we take a look at the hack and what it means for consumers.

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Top 3 Smishing Saves

Smishing is on the rise, and to better understand how it works, we are taking a look at the top smishing saves made by super cyber-aware users.

In this Micro Training, we will look at three scenarios of smishing and examine how each user was able to spot it.

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AI Vishing

Artificial Intelligence and deepfake audio are increasingly being used by cybercriminals in their scams.

In this Micro Training, we will look at a specific AI vishing scam that targets a user’s relatives.

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How Faster Internet Speeds Can Improve Your Business

The past several years have brought about dramatic increases in internet speeds, further fueling online activity and allowing businesses to innovate in all kinds of ways. Here are five of the best benefits that these increased Internet speeds have brought about for small and medium-sized businesses.

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So, Your Business Project Failed… How Can You Learn from It?

It can be challenging to deal with failure in any context, but in the case of your workplace projects and other efforts, it can be particularly harsh. This makes it all the more important to frame such failures as opportunities to grow in the future.

Let’s discuss six reasons an initiative may fail and the lessons that can be learned from these situations.

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AI is Progressing, but It’s Not the Answer to All Your Problems

You can’t take two steps outside of your home or two mouse-clicks or screen-taps online without seeing something written or hearing someone talking about AI. This has created a situation where every business is claiming AI as a revolutionary tool and consumers, overwhelmed with the term, have begun to take the technology for granted. In today’s blog, we want to determine whether AI brings added value or is just a term used to help companies market their products.

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Research Shows Many New Cybersecurity Professionals are Doomed to Make Blunders

Unfortunately, cyberattacks will only continue in the weeks, months, and years to come, making it increasingly essential that businesses have access to cybersecurity expertise. Even more unfortunately, professionals with this level of expertise are becoming harder to find. Globally, we’re short almost four million people, and those we have are prone to make mistakes in their first few years. This comes from a report by Kaspersky, entitled “The Portrait of Modern Information Security Professional,” Let’s review what the cybersecurity developer found and what we can take away from these findings.

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It’s Summer and You Have to Take Care of Your Tech

Summer is here, and sometimes, your technology pays the price. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss some ways to protect your tech as you travel and enjoy the nice weather.

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With a Massive Botnet Recently Disrupted, Let’s Review What a Botnet Is

It was very recently revealed that a global law enforcement effort took down a massive botnet that was in action for almost a decade. In light of this, we wanted to review what a botnet is and how it works, drawing from these events for some context.

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Stalkerware

Do you feel like someone knows what you are doing online? If someone knows information about you that they shouldn’t, or mysterious apps are popping up on your device, it could be a case of stalkerware.

In this Micro Training, we will define stalkerware and explain how to identify and avoid it.

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Why You Can’t Just Rip Memory from Your Computer

Transferring data between different computers and devices has become a routine task. Let's explore the steps you need to take before ejecting memory from a computer to ensure your data's integrity and the memory card's longevity.

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How are Companies Handling Employees’ Desire to Work from Home?

Many business owners considered allowing their employees to work from home like opening Pandora’s box; once opened, there was no going back. Unfortunately, for these administrators, they were faced with the very real prospect of losing their business if they didn’t allow it. Millions of people started working from home in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that public fear has diminished, how have companies reacted? Let’s discuss some remote work statistics to get an answer.

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Stop Missing Your Marketing Targets

Your business’ success is heavily influenced by your marketing. Similarly, your marketing’s success is heavily influenced by how accurately your marketing reaches who you want to be talking to… your prospects and even your current clients, your target audiences. They need your marketing to show them that your values align with theirs and that you’ll be invested in their success.

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MFA is Becoming a Major Component of Business Insurance

Businesses are prioritizing cybersecurity more than ever. Many insurers now require companies to meet specific cybersecurity standards before offering coverage, with one key requirement being the implementation of multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Here’s what you need to know and how we can help.

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The Impact Ransomware Has on All of Us

We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing ransomware's impacts on different subsets. First, we discussed how a ransomware attack impacts the customers of the infected business, and then we touched on the infected business itself. To end, we want to touch on ransomware's impacts on society, specifically regarding economic health and geopolitical security, known as third-order harms.

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You May Not Think You’re Popular, but Your Data Certainly Is

Data is extremely important in the way that most businesses conduct themselves. This results in other people wanting that information, too. Today’s blog will look at how seemingly everyone online is out for your data. 

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Why We’re Different Than Those Other IT Companies

Today’s businesses have more technology involved in their processes than ever, making it essential to have access to the support that will keep them in operation. Nowadays, that kind of support is best obtained through a relationship with a managed service provider.

Now, I feel it is appropriate to acknowledge that all this is coming from a managed service provider… but that’s just because we feel strongly enough about the benefits of managed services to offer them over the traditional approach to business IT support and services.

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TVs and Scammers

Did you know that Smart TVs are considered IoT devices?

In this Micro Training, explore this connection further, and see how cybercriminals are taking advantage of it.

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A Man-in-the-Middle Attack is Not to Be Underestimated

Have you ever heard of the “man-in-the-middle” attack or MitM? It’s a situation where your data is stolen by an onlooker who situates themselves in the right place at the right time. Data interception is a very real thing that your business should be prepared to fight against. Let’s discuss some strategies you can use to counter these sneaky attacks.

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How to Use Business Analytics to Fast-Track Success

Data is at the heart of all successful modern businesses. The information you collect and store can help you make better decisions, plan better strategies, and gain a competitive advantage. Let’s look at how your raw data can be refined into more meaningful insights through the use of business analytics tools.

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Have You Ever Considered What a Ransomware Attack Actually Does to Your Business?

Last week, we discussed the many impacts your business suffering from ransomware has on “second-order harm,” downstream businesses, and average, ordinary people. This time, we wanted to return to “first-order harms”… those the impacted business has to deal with itself.

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What You Need to Know About Your Personally Identifiable Information

Hackers are always on the lookout for personally identifiable information, or PII, as it’s an immensely lucrative resource. You’ll need to protect it if you want your business to continue operating safely and efficiently. Let’s go over what PII entails and what kinds of data you might find under this term.

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What is VoIP and How It Helps Your Business

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a technology that enables phone calls over the Internet. It offers a modern alternative to traditional phone lines with various advantages, like cost savings and advanced features. VoIP is revolutionizing business communication and is an essential tool for today's organizations, particularly with the rise of remote work. Here's why it's so popular among modern businesses.

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Why BDR is One of the Most Important Solutions Your Business Can Have

Business can get messy, particularly when variables outside your control are involved, which could spell doom for your organization. We’re talking, of course, about instances where your organization might be under a particularly large threat—instances where your data is at risk, which could jeopardize your future. Thankfully, there are options to mitigate this risk.

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It’s a Bad Time for Central NY Businesses to Be Lax on Cybersecurity

Local small and medium-sized organizations are commonly targeted by cybercriminals simply because they let their guard down. A lot of local business owners seem to think “Hey, I’m just an accountant in Oneonta, or I’m just an insurance company in Sidney, or I’m just a realtor in Cooperstown, why would hackers want to target me?”

And the answer is right there. On top of that, the sheer number of avenues that cybercriminals have to cause damage to a business is staggering. Let’s take a look at some of the more recent threats we’ve been seeing over the past two months.

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Securing Your Workspace

What do a clean desk and a strong password have in common? They both increase security!

In this Micro Training, we will explore the possible cybersecurity repercussions that come with keeping a messy workspace.

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Five Methods to Improve Team Productivity

If you want your organization to be efficient, you must increase productivity. However, this is often easier said than done, as plenty of obstacles, communication challenges, and resource allocation issues can stymie even the most well-thought-out plans. Let’s look at how you can improve productivity for your business by considering these common issues.

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Have You Ever Considered What a Ransomware Attack Would Do to Your Customers?

It can be too easy to look at ransomware as a business problem. After all, it attacks businesses, locking down their data for ransom, often selling it or spreading it, and sometimes altering it for the business if returning it at all. It can be too easy to overlook another impacted target in all the mess.

What happens to the people whose data a business has collected and uses?

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Is Your Internal IT Buckling Under Pressure? We'll Lighten the Load

There's a lot of pressure on (often understaffed and overworked) internal IT teams to manage and maintain increasingly complex systems. For businesses noticing signs of strain on their IT staff, seeking assistance from managed services providers (MSPs) could be the remedy. Here's how an MSP like us can alleviate the pressure and contribute to workplace wellness for all.

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Secure Your Digital Life with Just One Password

Safeguarding your online accounts is an important part of maintaining network security. With the increasing number of cyber threats, relying on strong, unique passwords is no longer optional—it's a necessity. Remembering complex passwords for numerous accounts can be challenging, however. This is where password managers come in handy, offering a secure and convenient solution to managing your credentials.

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How to Prioritize Security in File Sharing

Business file sharing has become a daily routine. It's a crucial part of collaboration, communication, and overall productivity. However, with the rise of cyberthreats, file security is more important than ever. It's not just about sharing files but doing it securely and efficiently. Today, we'll look at some best practices for business file sharing.

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Five Common Business IT Headaches Managed Services Help Relieve

Technology frustrations can cause major setbacks for today’s businesses. IT challenges of all kinds can disrupt operations and impact productivity. Fortunately, managed IT services can help solve these common business IT headaches. Therefore, businesses can access a team of experts ready to tackle these issues head-on by outsourcing their IT management to a managed service provider.

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Philly Cheesesteak Tortellini Pasta

Indulge in the ultimate comfort food with this Philly Cheesesteak Tortellini Pasta. Juicy beef, tender vegetables, and melted provolone cheese come together in a rich, creamy sauce that will keep them coming back for seconds.

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The Easiest Way to Commit to Strong, Secure Passwords

In order to protect your personal information, as well as your company information, you need to put a lot of effort and brainpower into your passwords. They are supposed to be long and complex, they are supposed to be random. You are supposed to use a different password on each account… 

If you are thinking to yourself, man that’s a lot of work, you aren’t wrong. We’re on your side.

There’s an easier way, and it’s something that businesses can implement for their entire staff that solves a lot of headaches and goes a long way toward keeping data safe.

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AI and Spam

Does the internet ever feel like an avalanche of never-ending content?

In this Micro Training, learn how AI content farms exacerbate this feeling, leading to intentional and unintentional misinformation spreading like wildfire.

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What Opportunities Do Small Businesses Have in 2024 with Their IT?

Nowadays, finding a business that does not use technology in its everyday processes would be extremely challenging. That’s just how things are today. This technology also typically sees advances in capabilities and accessibility, particularly for the small and medium-sized business sectors. This year, 2024, seems poised to be no exception.

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Why It’s Good to Purge Your Digital Waste

So, what is digital waste?

Digital waste is all the useless data in our data storage that lingers until we do something with it. Extra files no longer needed, old emails and chats, and old, blurry pictures you never have and will never use… all qualify as digital waste. While it’s easy to discount digital waste as an annoyance (which it certainly can be), it creates a much bigger and more serious problem.

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Here's Why Oneonta Businesses are Ditching Traditional Phone Systems for VoIP

In the realm of business communication, a seismic shift is underway. Traditional phone systems, once the backbone of business communication, are being phased out. In their place, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems are taking center stage.

But why is this change happening?

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What’s Backup and Disaster Recovery, and Do I Need to Worry About It?

Nowadays, businesses need to be prepared for almost every circumstance. You may have heard the term “BDR” used to describe a method of attaining this level of preparation. We wanted to discuss this term in more depth, covering what it refers to and what you need to do to protect your business should BDR be right for you.

Spoiler alert: it very much is.

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What You Need to Do If You Think You’ve Been Breached

Today, cybersecurity is everyone's business. It's not just the IT department's job anymore. When a hack happens, it can feel like a personal violation. It's scary, confusing, and you might not know what to do next.

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Professional Services IT Has Come a Long Way

Professional services make up a significant portion of the business landscape. They can be broadly defined as any organization with trained professionals at the center offering a service of note. The most common professionals under this umbrella term are lawyers, agents, consultants, and others who help businesses in their day-to-day operations. Let’s explore some of the technology that fuels professional service providers.

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How to Reduce the Risks of Phishing Attacks

Phishing is a pervasive threat nowadays, with businesses of any size or industry serving as prime targets. Understanding phishing and implementing effective prevention strategies is crucial for your entire team.

Let's explore how to reduce the effectiveness of phishing schemes against your business—in other words, how to prevent phishing from having an impact.

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Putting Cybersecurity First

We are going back to the basics so you can learn how to put cybersecurity first in your work and personal life.

In this Micro Training, learn eight quick and simple tips on how you can put cybersecurity first.

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Three of the Best Use Cases of Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is one of the more intriguing technologies that have come along in recent years, and businesses have begun to use it in pretty interesting ways. In today’s blog, we thought we’d go through three of the most popular and effective use cases of AR and the effect it can have on your business. 

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Tip of the Week: Creating Google Forms that Auto-Populate Google Sheets

There are several reasons to use a form to collect data for your business, from customer impressions and service needs to employee feedback about internal matters as a means of collaborative decision-making. The trouble comes when it is time to compile all the responses… unless you know how to use the tools at your disposal.

For this week’s tip, we’re walking through the process of creating a form that self-populates a spreadsheet using Google’s toolkit.

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10 Ways to Supercharge Your Email Marketing Efforts

Email marketing remains one of the most popular ways businesses can nurture leads, build the necessary impressions to convert prospects, and maintain relationships with current clientele. With this popularity, however, comes plenty of competition for attention in recipients’ inboxes. This means you must do everything you can to make your email marketing as effective as possible.

Let’s review ten things we recommend you prioritize as you work toward this goal.

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Opportunity Cost, Return on Investment, and Saving Money with Technology

Part of doing business is understanding certain types of trade-offs related to the decisions you make. Specifically, we want to highlight opportunity cost as it relates to technology. What is the opportunity cost of technology, and why is it an important concept for a business owner to grasp?

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Your Business Can’t Afford to Forego Security Auditing

While the word “audit” can easily be a scary thought for businesses, there are certain cases where an audit serves an organization’s direct benefit. Take, for instance, the ones that occur internally to identify and correct security issues and vulnerabilities. These audits are not only a positive endeavor for businesses; they’re extremely important to carry out.

Let’s talk about why this is and review a few standard practices you should prioritize as you go about this process.

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Some of the Best Practices for Internal File Sharing

Ensuring that your organization's file-sharing policies and procedures are built to enhance security can significantly impact collaboration, distinguishing between efficient, streamlined processes and time-purging, wasteful practices. Navigating this terrain can be a challenge. Let’s explore several best practices your organization can adopt to optimize file-sharing.

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3 Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence for Small Businesses

More small and medium-sized businesses than ever are seeing AI's potential to transform their operations. However, like any technology, AI has its own set of pros and cons. Let's discuss three major advantages and drawbacks you can expect if using it in your business. Hopefully, it helps you make an informed decision about adopting AI.

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Pig Butchering Scams

In a pig butchering scam, cybercriminals are playing the long game to squeeze as much as they can out of their victim.

In this Micro Training, learn about how pig butchering scams work and what you need to be on the lookout for.

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How to Keep Engagement Up (Even in a Remote or Hybrid Workplace)

Remote and hybrid work models have become more popular than ever, in no small part thanks to the improved technology businesses of all sizes can now access. Nevertheless, this shift has brought new challenges for organizations everywhere. One such challenge is maintaining and enhancing remote workplace engagement—a crucial aspect that directly impacts employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention.

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3 Reasons an MSP's Approach is Best for IT Support

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face the challenge of managing complex IT systems with very limited resources. Enter managed service providers, or MSPs, the guardians of IT that can help your business stay ahead of the game. An MSP's approach to IT support delivery offers many benefits that traditional IT support and even an in-house team might struggle to match.

Let's delve into three compelling reasons why our innovative approach is best for your IT support needs, especially if you want to scale up and streamline operations.

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How to Manage Change in Your Business Without Burning Out

Change is inevitable, especially in the dynamic world of business, where it is the driving force behind growth and innovation. Yet managing change can be a daunting task. It requires strategic planning, effective communication, and strong leadership.

This is where change management optimization comes into play. It's about refining your approach to change, making it more efficient and successful… particularly when it involves your IT and related processes.

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Prevent the Majority of Threats with Endpoint Security

There are many parts of running a business where you cannot be too careful, one of which is the realm of cybersecurity. Many of the preventative measures you can implement aim to keep issues from making their way to your infrastructure in the first place, which makes sense from an operational standpoint. With an endpoint detection and response solution—or EDR—you’ll take an important step toward keeping most threats off your infrastructure.

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Rise Up Against Ransomware

Like many of the past few years, this year has witnessed a significant surge in high-profile ransomware attacks. If you haven't already strategized how to safeguard your business from these threats, now is the time to act. Fortunately, you can take several proactive measures to mitigate the impact of ransomware attacks, and it all starts with preparation.

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How to Use Technology to Support Your Team’s Wellness

It isn’t easy to be a member of the workforce right now. While we won’t cover them in detail, plenty of stressors—related to and separate from the workplace—can easily impact an employee’s performance. As a result, it is often in your company’s best interest to invest in your team’s well-being, and one way to do this is by implementing and encouraging the use of different technologies.

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QR Code Phishing

Have you received an email with a QR code in it recently? Watch out! It might be a scam.

In this Micro Training, find out more about the increasingly common tactic of QR code phishing, also known as Quishing.

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Technology that Can Help You Get Through Tough Situations

Running a business has definite highs and lows. When things start spiraling seemingly out of control, it’s important to maintain the confidence that with the right decision-making and conscientious action, you can get through any problem that a business faces. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss some of the technology that can help you get through tough situations. 

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Net Neutrality Seems Poised to Return in Upcoming FCC Vote — Here’s Why It Should

The topic of net neutrality has had a tumultuous past few years, with steps forward canceled out by steps taken back. However, new efforts are being considered to restore the policies that made net neutrality what it was in the first place.

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Why You Should Identify Your Ideal Client (and How to Do So)

While it might be nice to think that your business can serve “anyone”—after all, being able to serve anyone means that you have the potential to work with everyone—this, unfortunately, isn’t the reality. Even the most accessible businesses will have certain clients that are inherently more valuable than others. These “ideal clients” are critical to identify, so let’s talk about how you can do so.

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