POST CATEGORY : Information Technology

Choosing the Best Website Hosting for a Personal or Community site

Ever noticed how most of the advice you receive online about choosing a web hosting plan focuses on business customers? There’s no end to the number of articles or blogs out there giving us tips on how to pick hosting that helps us to make money and serve our customers.

Web hosting

But what if we don’t have customers? What if we’re not in the business of making money at all, but instead want to launch a new website dedicated to something we’re passionate about, like a hobby or special area of knowledge? What if the only goal for our website is to keep members of our community, local sports team or church group informed about what’s going on?…

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Three Levels of Prevention for Safe File Sharing

Although there is no doubt that data sharing is valuable in business, an important way to connect with partners and build up rapport with customers, it’s also a risky business for an organization if not protected. Usually, problems arise due to not understanding the dangers associated with file sharing resulting in intentionally or unintentionally flaunting company regulations.

File sharing

Understanding the Dangers of File Sharing

The popularity of file sharing is easy to understand. We are all hardwired to be social mammals and passing along information, collaborating with others, and connecting with peers internally and business associates, partners and customers externally comes naturally to us.…

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5 Ways that Unified Communications Is Changing the Workforce (Infographic)

As business leaders worldwide continue to adapt to increased mobility needs, unified communications is becoming a critical tool in the daily operations of companies in all industries. Cloud-based communication devices not only save money, but they also help to improve workflow efficiency within all areas of a firm.

Cloud unified communications

For starters, UC tools allow IT professionals to spend less time maintaining hardware and more time customizing these new programs to better serve a business. In addition, using a cloud-based VoIP system can save money in the long-run as expensive hardware and landline service transitions into a thing of the past. This move also allows businesses to become scalable, as new lines can be added and dropped at the touch of a button, simplifying billing for both employees and business leaders.…

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7 Essential Considerations for Choosing a Cloud Hosting Service

You’ve probably heard that moving your business to the cloud has its advantages, but where do you start? What options do you have and what are potential pitfalls? You shouldn’t just pick any random cloud host, and preparation and careful consideration will help you avoid data loss when you move. Here are some considerations you should make before you sign a contract with any cloud host.

Cloud hosting

What Type of Reliability is Offered?

Reliability determines your uptime, which you depend on for productivity and servicing customers. If you rely on the cloud host for both public-facing apps and internal apps, any type of downtime results in revenue loss.…

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Avoiding Accounting Nightmares

As a small business owner you no doubt wear many different hats during your day-to-day tasks. Accountant, marketing manager, PR guru, head of HR, etc. are probably just some of the roles you have to take on. Because of this typical small business environment it is common for some aspects of a business to suffer and for some reason, despite its huge importance, it is often the financial accounts that suffer the most.

Accounting

This can happen for a few reasons. A lack of understanding when it comes to accounting is one and a shortage of time due to other business commitments is another.…

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5 Small Business Cybersecurity Fixes

In today’s world of accelerating technological advancements, it’s almost hard to imagine a small business not using technology. However, as a small business owner, you may find it increasingly difficult to keep pace with current trends. Yet technology is too important a piece for you to leave out of your business jigsaw puzzle. If you do your best to stay on top of technological changes, your business will grow faster, much faster than your competitors in the marketplace. This difference will be on many orders of magnitude.

Cyber security

There is a good reason why tech companies have valuations in millions or billions.…

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How to Maximize the Benefits of Your CRM Software

Investing in a customer relationship management (CRM) software package can be one of the best ways to enhance your business relationships and boost profitability. CRM software is a powerful application that, when used to its full potential, can not only mean better customer relationships, but also more streamlined processes, increased sales, and happier employees.

CRM software

However, many companies miss out on these benefits by not using the software to its full potential. Here is a start-to-finish guide for how to maximize the benefits of your CRM software.

Choose the right software package

Getting the most out of CRM software starts by picking the right application to meet the needs of your business and of your employees.…

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Why a Simple POS System Means More Customer Confidence

Customer confidence is all over the map these days. With worries about identify theft and security breaches constantly the news, it takes something to convince customers that your store is the place where they should drop those dollars and scan that card.

If you want to get ahead in this market you have to beat out the competition not just in prices or incentives, but in confidence. One security breach can set a company back a dangerous amount, forcing them to rebuild or try to woo back their customer base when they’re under the pressure of a lot of stress.

Point of sale

With that in mind, the answer is not a complicated point of sale machine or bristling firewalls and security.…

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Best Practices to Avoid a Data Breach This Winter

The expected rise in holiday sales this year is good news for small businesses— and for hackers attempting to steal sensitive customer information. While headlines have focused on security breaches at big corporations like Target, Neiman Marcus and most recently, Home Depot, small businesses are not immune to such attacks; in fact, an alarming 71 percent of all security breaches target small businesses.

Cyber security

Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and frequent each year. A 2013 technology survey of small business owners conducted by the National Small Business Association (NSBA) shows that 44 percent of respondents have been victim to cyber-attacks. While respondents said “security issues” was the second biggest technological challenge in their businesses, almost 30 percent had little to no understanding of cyber security.…

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Server Security: Why to Consider Colocation Over Managed Hosting

The popularity of cloud computing has led to increasing demands on servers and networks around the globe. As more people and businesses migrate to the cloud, servers face greater stresses. Companies are expected to provide tight security for cloud services, constant uptime, and reliable performance. Investing in the full IT infrastructure needed to support your business’s online activity can be prohibitively expensive, especially for small businesses.

Server security

If you want to create or expand your company’s online presence without breaking the bank, server colocation is the best option. Never heard of server colocation? You aren’t alone. The concept of server colocation is still relatively new to most companies, so we’ll explore the concept a little to offer you some peace of mind about the process.…

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