SCW Blog

With one of the most stressful years in recent memory coming to an end, it seems important to make the most of the holidays this year—despite the COVID-19 pandemic putting the kibosh on most of our typical holiday festivities. That’s why we’ve taken the time to put together a list of ideas that would brighten any technophile’s holiday to help guide your gift-giving.

Have you heard of the Gig Economy? Basically, it is the name for the millions of people that work individual jobs without having a static employer. The COVID-19 pandemic has removed some of the luster from gig work as companies look to cut back where they can. Let’s take a look at the new gig economy, and how it functions during a pandemic. 

With remote work remaining a popular option embraced by many businesses nowadays, it is more important than ever that security is prioritized amongst the employees now operating outside of the office. One facet of doing so is to implement a virtual private network, or a VPN. Let’s go over what a VPN is, and how it works to protect your business’ data.

We will often keep an eye on current events to find practical examples to use as evidence in support of our recommended best practices, but a relatively recent Spotify hack has given us a special opportunity. We now have the opportunity to use this one story to reinforce not one, but two such practices. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Collaboration is a critical consideration—especially nowadays, with more people than ever before working remotely. Fortunately, there are plenty of solutions available today that enable the level of communication necessary for effective collaboration to take place. Let’s go over some of the tools your business should embrace to fulfill its needs.

We’re always talking about the importance of keeping your software up to date. It is the very best way to avoid the vulnerabilities that can cause data breaches. When the Department of Homeland Security tells organizations to patch their software, however, it is urgent. This is exactly what has happened recently regarding the world’s most utilized Internet browser, Google Chrome.

It was pretty evident from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that many businesses were not prepared to pivot their operations offsite. Many of these company’s leaders spent the past several years convinced that allowing people to work remotely would sap productivity in unsustainable ways. Cybercriminals have taken advantage of many organizations since then. Today, we will talk about what needs to be done to secure your endpoints when supporting a remote workforce. 

PDFs are a hugely useful file format, especially as a means of securing a signature. Just in case you’re not sure how to do so effectively, let’s go over how you can digitally sign your PDF files.

Regardless of what your business does, there is a good chance that it relies pretty heavily on technology. When that technology falters, so does your business. Sure, this might be for a couple hours at a time, but it all adds up and has a major impact on the success of your business. Many organizations have outsourced their IT support and management, but could benefit from a more proactive approach than the one they currently employ. Today, we will take a look at some of the priorities that businesses should consider when choosing an outsourced IT provider.

Adobe Flash, once one of the most utilized pieces of software on the Internet is being retired by the software giant. Support will stop on December 31, 2020 and like any other piece of retired software, you should remove it from any systems you have that still run it. 

If you’re seeking out an IT resource to assist your business in maintaining its all-important technology resources, you’re almost certainly seeking out the option that will give you the greatest return on your investment in terms of value. There is no denying that we are biased in our opinion, but that doesn’t change the fact that—dollar for dollar—the investment you make into managed services will always be the best choice.

Most people like new technology, whether it is a lamp shaped like the moon, a new video game console, or just a gadget that may improve their life a little bit. We looked around to try and find some business-esque technology the professional would be able to use in their office (or home office). Let’s take a look at them now:

There’s no denying that marketing is a big deal for smartphone manufacturers. They spend a lion’s share of their money pushing one or two devices on the public, when they build many more that sell as well or better. The thing is, not everyone has $1,000-to-$2,000 to drop on a cellphone every couple of years. To wrap up our look at the smartphone market, we thought we’d introduce you to some phones that won’t bust your budget and that can still provide users some value. 

Working from home—especially for an extended period, as many have—can take its toll on anyone. Just think about it: instead of the home being a place of relative sanctuary that your employees can retreat to after the workday is over, the home has become just another place for work to be done. This quite understandably isn’t healthy, so it becomes important that your team members are able to separate their work life from their home life.

With so many people working from home right now, businesses have managed to keep their operations going somewhat successfully by using the remote solutions that are available today. While it is fortunate that today’s technology enables businesses to do so, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be understated as remote work is implemented.

Last week we explored the flagship smartphones that are on the market right now. Today, we wanted to look at some different devices. These devices carry the price tag of a flagship (or cost more), but don’t necessarily have the specs that you would expect from devices priced in that area. They explore new form factors, or in some cases, older form factors. Let’s briefly discuss four innovative new devices.

While loaning out your mobile device probably isn’t something you’re particularly keen to do right now, this may have been the case even before there were health concerns involved. After all, your phone really is just a little package of your personal data. What you may not have known, however, is that Android has had a feature—Android Guest Mode—that can help protect you since Android 5.0 Lollipop came out in 2014.

We haven’t exactly been shy about sharing our recommendation that a ransomware demand should never be met with payment, but there is now an even more impactful reason not to. This deterrent comes courtesy of the United States Treasury Department, which has released a statement informing businesses of potential fines as retribution for doing so.

Millions of people have moved off the traditional computer and now use their smartphone for most of their browsing and other tasks, with new devices coming out regularly to help them do so. Let’s take a few minutes to examine the latest devices available today.

Back in June, Microsoft applied an update to the Microsoft 365 version of their Outlook email platform, adding various features—including one that allows users to run a native poll through their email. Let’s go over how it works so that you can take advantage of this useful utility.