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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 to Prevent and Respond to Stolen Smartphones

b2ap3_thumbnail_cellphone_security_400.jpgIf you've ever had your smartphone stolen, you can attest to the frustration and potential risk that it brings. Many organizations and legislators are working to muzzle the issue, and there are steps that you can personally take to help prevent your device from being stolen. Let's take a look at how to prevent smartphone theft, and how to respond if your gadget is stolen.

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The Right Software Can Remove Productivity Roadblocks

Productivity. Your company needs it. Your employees are measured largely by their ability to effectively turn their effort into a tangible product or service that creates revenue. It really means everything to your business. Why then, if it is so necessary, is it so hard to get the people you depend on to realize just how important their productivity is to the success of the business? Let’s discuss what makes a business productive, and what technology will mitigate the major barriers to productivity.

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Boost Your Network’s Security with These 4 Tools

Network security can be tough; there’s a lot to know, and you often need to have trained professionals on your side to ensure your systems are as secure as possible. With the right solutions on your side, however, it can be made much more manageable. Let’s discuss some of the most important security features your organization should implement and why.

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The Smartphone Can Be Quite the Productivity Tool

For a lot of businesses, employee mobile phone usage was once a big problem for them. There have been some businesses that actually hired someone to walk around their office telling people to get off their phones. Some businesses outlawed employee devices altogether. There probably are some businesses out there that still limit the use of these devices in their office, but for most businesses, their employees’ smartphones are now completely part of their productivity strategy. Let’s take a quick look at the shift from banned to benefit in this month’s newsletter.

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Mobile Management Is More Crucial than Ever

Make no mistake, the impact that your mobile device strategy has on your business is an important one. It can make or break your organization’s security, as well as stymie or encourage your organization’s productivity. Therefore, you should do everything in your power to make sure that your mobile device management platform is working to your company’s advantage. Let’s take a look at some of the features that all good MDM platforms should enable.

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Mobile Device Management is Challenging in Today’s Remote Work Environment

As you might expect, the remote circumstances that many business professionals have found themselves in as of late have created challenges that must be overcome, especially in regards to the access and dissemination of data to mobile devices. Let’s examine the mobile device’s role in the modern business and how you can ensure these great tools are being used properly for your organization.

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A Solid Mobile Device Strategy Needs These 3 Components

It’s no surprise that mobile technology has infiltrated the workplace in more ways than one. Many businesses issue company-owned devices to their employees to get work done while out of the office, while others allow employees to bring their own devices, or use their own laptops and smartphones for fulfilling their day-to-day duties. That being said, it’s important to remember that mobile devices need to be managed in a very specific way to maintain security.

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Tip of the Week: 4 Immediate Actions to Take After Your Mobile Device Has Been Stolen

b2ap3_thumbnail_lost_device_400.jpgThieves stealing mobile devices like laptops and smartphones have reached epidemic proportions. In fact, 2013 statistics from Consumer Reports and LoJack show that two million laptops were stolen that year, along with three million handsets. Translation; it’s way more likely for your mobile device to be stolen than you probably realize.

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Smartphones Have New Roles in Business

No doubt you’ve noticed the increased use of smartphones. No matter where you go, people are on their phones. Sometimes they are using them in places you wouldn’t even imagine. For the modern business, employee smartphone usage can be a major pain in the side. Today, we’ll go into how smartphone usage helps and hurts a business and how to go about keeping employees from being on their phones for large chunks of the workday.

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Tech Term: Mobile Device Management

While smartphones and tablets can help businesses quite a bit, they can also be quite detrimental to their success. If you can get past the issues related to employees bringing their own devices to the workplace, then you’ll be able to save a considerable amount of time and resources on device procurement, but you certainly want to make sure you have a mobile device management policy put in place first.

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Tip of the Week: Awareness is Key to Mobile Device Security

With more and more businesses relying on mobile devices for their business they have to be sure that the use of these devices doesn’t present security issues for the company. With all that is happening in business computing today, finding out how you can protect yourself in lieu of the prevalence smartphones play in the business world is important. Here are a few tips on how to lock it up or lose it, altogether.

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Keep Bring Your Own Device From Becoming Bring Your Own Disaster

Do you let your employees bring their own devices in for use on your company network or Wi-Fi connection? If so, we’re sure that they love the freedom that you provide for them, but we must warn you of the dangers that this can bring to an otherwise careful business. We’ll discuss some of the benefits, as well as the pitfalls, of allowing your employees to use personal devices in the workplace.

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Your Business Needs To Manage Mobile Devices For The Sake Of Its Security

Businesses can benefit from the use of personal mobile devices in the workplace, yet there are also potential dangers in allowing mobile and Internet of Things devices to access your network. In order to reduce these dangers, you need to put some limits and guidelines on the use of such devices in the workplace.

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Google Pixel Is First to Come with Zero-Touch Provisioning--Will Your Favorite Be Next?

Does your business use Google’s line of Android devices for business purposes? Well, you might be happy to hear about Google’s new zero-touch solution for enterprises for their Pixel line of smartphones. If you provide smartphones for your business’ employees, you know how much of a hassle it is to set up these devices. This new zero-touch policy attempts to make a change to this.

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Mobile Device Management Builds Mobile Reliability

Even if you try to ban them in the office, it’s inevitable that your employees will bring their mobile devices to the workplace anyway. Instead of worrying about them wasting away the day, why not try to turn the devices to your advantage? There are more tools out there than ever before to not only add smartphones to your workflows, but to make them profitable and valuable for your organization.

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Mobile Technology Trends Present a Major Challenge for Business Owners

The small business is under siege. Many small business owners do what they can to compete, but it seems like there is no solution for their revenue woes, as larger organizations are able to attract a larger part of the market share. This has been the case for some time, but there are market forces at work today that make it even more difficult for businesses to contend with competitors that have more resources.

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Increased Mobile Device Use Means Increased Risk for Businesses

Smartphones, laptops, and Chromebooks empower today’s workforce to be more mobile, and employees are often the driving force behind this. Chances are, if your business hasn’t even begun to think about your mobile IT strategy, a percentage of your staff already has.

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How Should Business Owners Respond Appropriately to the Mobile Revolution?

Mobile devices have a prevalent place in the modern office. In fact, a recent study by Gartner found that 80 percent of all employees bring their personal mobile device with them to work. This Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend comes with a host of benefits, like improved productivity and employee morale, but it increases the risk of a corporate data breach if not properly managed. How should a concerned business owner respond to this trend?

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Is Your Business Prepared to Take On the BYOD Revolution?

b2ap3_thumbnail_employee_devices_400.jpgBring Your Own Device, or BYOD for short, is an important business trend that’s growing in popularity. BYOD allows users to bring their own devices to the workplace and use them for their everyday duties. While we often discuss the security issues that BYOD presents, it’s crucial to also mention the many benefits that BYOD offers for small and medium-sized businesses.

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4 Ways to Prepare Your IT For the Future

b2ap3_thumbnail_connected_workforce_400.jpgWith the aid of technology, today’s workforce is more connected and faster at responding to problems than ever before. While this is great for productivity, it presents challenges for business owners to offer their workers current solutions that won’t hold them back. For many old-school employers, this may require a new way of approaching technology.

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How to Leverage the Benefits of Mobile Devices While Negating the Associated Risks

b2ap3_thumbnail_bring_YOD_400.jpgMobile devices have taken the workplace environment by storm, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t use their smartphone, laptop, or other device for work purposes. This trend, called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), helps employers spend less on new solutions, but it also presents a risk that needs to be managed: the Internet of Things (IoT).

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Why BYOD is an Important Industry-Changing Trend

b2ap3_thumbnail_bring_your_own_device_mdm_400.jpgMobile devices are challenging the traditional perception of the office environment. When employees bring their own devices to work, this is called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and it’s an increasingly popular trend. Initially thought of as a threat, BYOD is proving to be a valuable option for businesses wanting to increase productivity, so long as it’s regulated properly.

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Tip of the Week: 3 Bluetooth Gadgets for Enhanced Productivity On Mobile Devices

b2ap3_thumbnail_mobile_device_productivity_400.jpgIf you’ve ever tried to work while out of the office on your smartphone or tablet, you’ll have realized that mobile devices aren’t the optimal productivity machine to get the most quality work done. However, if you take advantage of the proper gadgets, you can take back your productivity and continue to get work done, even under the worst circumstances.

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3 Trends to Watch For in Today’s Mobile Industry

b2ap3_thumbnail_mobile_for_your_business_400.jpgMobile devices are changing the way that businesses look at the workforce, but one of the main draws (and possibly detriments) is how the industry continues to change rapidly as new solutions are made available. In order to maximize your business’s efficiency with mobile devices, it’s important to consider these three trends shaping the way that organizations handle modern mobile device management.

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Why We’re Cautiously Optimistic about Using Mobile Devices at Work

b2ap3_thumbnail_mobile_device_management_400.jpgAs expected, mobile technology is a consistent part of daily business operations for many companies around the world. Employees love taking advantage of the mobility these devices offer, making their home office just as useful as their in-house workstation. However, a mobile device management solution needs to be strictly adhered to in order to optimize security and guarantee that a stray smartphone doesn’t expose your data to unexpected eyes.

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Unfamiliar with BYOD? Here’s Where to Begin

b2ap3_thumbnail_bring_your_own_dvice_to_work_400.jpgA trend that’s taking the office by storm is BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device. These policies entail workers bringing their own devices to the office and using them for work-related purposes. While this opens up many avenues for enhanced productivity and efficiency, being too laissez faire with your BYOD policy could instigate some problems later on, primarily in the security field.

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Do Mobile Devices Sweeten Sales, or Crush Employee Productivity?

b2ap3_thumbnail_smartphone_questions_400.jpgWe’re all aware of how the proliferation of mobile devices is changing the workplace, but let’s take an objective look at this trend. Are mobile devices changing the workplace for the better? Are employees actually using their personal devices to get more work done? Or, is the BYOD trend a bunch of hype and nothing’s really changed? Let’s find out.

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Tip of the Week: 4 Ways to Get the Most Mobile Device Memory

b2ap3_thumbnail_phone_memory_400.jpgAs a technology consumer, you might realize that your mobile device’s hard drive storage space is somewhat lackluster compared to your needs. Countless photos, applications, and videos take up a ton of space, and if something were to cause the device to fill up suddenly, you’d be out of luck. How can you prevent this? You can start by using these four tips to get around your device’s lack of storage.

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How BYOD Neglect Can Ruin Your Business

b2ap3_thumbnail_byod_can_be_bad_400.jpgEmployees bringing their own mobile devices into the workplace (BYOD) is one of the hottest business technology trends. BYOD has been shown to increase productivity, but when it’s implemented improperly, it can leave your business vulnerable to security threats. How do you motivate employees to stick to your BYOD policy in order to ensure the safety of your company’s data?

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Trust is the Key for BYOD

b2ap3_thumbnail_byod_trust_400_20141201-141235_1.jpgAs mobile technology booms, employers and employees are learning how to best take advantage of using new mobile technology in the workplace (a trend known as BYOD). To be sure, there are several advantages that come with BYOD, but there’s still hesitancy for many businesses to fully adopt mobile technology due to a lack of trust.

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Tip of the Week: How to Remotely Wipe Your iPhone or iPad

b2ap3_thumbnail_wipe_clean_ios_400.jpgWith the new iPhone 6 release just a few short weeks ago, many users are excited to ditch their old devices and get the flexible new piece of hardware. Unfortunately, these users might not take into account that their phones could potentially hold private information which should be deleted before forking over the device.

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Tip of the Week: How to Remotely Wipe Your Android Device Clean

b2ap3_thumbnail_wipe_your_android_device_400.jpgMobile technology has invaded our very way of life. We don’t leave the house without our mobile phones, and many business owners have their phones integrated to connect with their company’s network. The average user has many different social media applications and others that utilize personal information. What would happen if you lost it?

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Should Increased Mobile Malware Attacks Deter You from BYOD?

b2ap3_thumbnail_mobile_malware_risk_400.jpgThe trend of employees bringing in their own mobile devices to the office and using them for work purposes (BYOD) is growing rapidly. In fact, a new report from Juniper Research forecasts that by 2018, more than one billion employee-owned devices will be used in enterprises. A trend this big means that organizations have to take BYOD seriously.

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How BYOD Can Boost Your Green Campaign

b2ap3_thumbnail_byodgirl400.jpgTwo of the latest trends in business culture are environmentally friendly green campaigns and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) work environments. There are a few ways that a BYOD system can contribute to the success of your company's green campaign, as they both seek to use technology to increase everyday efficiency at the office.

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Don’t Trust AnyBYODy

b2ap3_thumbnail_byods400.jpgThe latest news in office technology movements is the shift toward BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environments; in which employees are bringing their own mobile devices to work. All the cool kids are doing it, but should you? Before you follow the trend and allow your employees to bring their devices to work, you should consider these risks.

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The Need for Support with BYOD

b2ap3_thumbnail_1byod400.pngThere's a tidal wave of different consumer devices available on the market; smartphones, tablets, laptops, netbooks, and much more. Employees love their devices and love bringing them to work. If your company is allowing for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), then you will want professional support to get the most out of it.

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Protect Your Business from BYOD Lawsuits

b2ap3_thumbnail_lawsuit400.pngMany businesses are discovering how great it is for employees to use their personal devices to accomplish work. BYOD has been proven to improve productivity and worker satisfaction; but like so many great things, these BYOD benefits are in danger of being shut down as employers are becoming concerned about being sued. How can you still benefit from BYOD while being protected from lawsuits?

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What You Need to Know About BYOD

A new technology trend is equipping workers with high-powered mobile devices, like tablets, smartphones, laptops, and more--at the worker's own expense. Employees are bringing their tech into work in order to be more efficient and productive while at the office. Is your organization ready for the Bring Your Own Device revolution?

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3 IT Shortcomings That Drive Employees Crazy, and What You Can Do About Them

b2ap3_thumbnail_fix_your_own_pc_400.jpgFor small and medium-sized businesses, technology management can be a tricky situation. You want to ensure that your IT doesn't break your budget, but you also want to make using your technology as easy as possible for your end users. Unfortunately, for many employees, your business’s technology conduct and practices could be driving them insane.

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