MSPNetworks Blog

There’s no beating around the bush with this one; moving data from one place to another, also known as data migration, is critical to get right the first time. If you create and follow a migration strategy, evaluating here and there to make sure it’s all going according to plan, you’ll see great success in this effort. Let’s go over how you can make it happen.

The Process of Migration Testing

When testing your data migration process, it’s important to make sure you take action to plan it out long before the process begins, as well as what happens after the migration. If you evaluate your process before, during, and after the migration, you’ll have key insights into specific metrics that can help you gauge the success of the endeavor. Of course, there are plenty of things that can go wrong, and keeping an eye on things throughout the process will help you catch them before they cause too much trouble.

Also of note is that data migration requires some pretty technical skills and know-how, so it’s advisable to have professionals on hand to help you with the process. MSPNetworks is happy to assist you with this complicated process.

All that said, we can now take a look at what you need to know before, during, and after a migration.

What Should You Do Before Your Migration?

First, we recommend that you look at how much data needs to be migrated to establish a frame of reference for the success of the migration. It’s also crucial that you take measures to protect your data while you migrate everything to a new location, and be sure to back it up just in case of a worst-case scenario.

Furthermore, be sure that your team is aware of the proposed timeline, and make sure that your budget can cover this timeline in a sustainable way. The last thing you need to do is cut corners. Doing so could potentially put you at risk of doing it poorly, or even leave you subject to fines and other compliance issues if the system you’re migrating to is not adequate.

What Should You Do During the Migration?

As the migration occurs, you should break up your data into smaller batches so that testing is more efficient and easier to pull off. You can also take the opportunity to set access permissions according to the roles of your employees.

What Should You Do After the Migration?

Once you have finished the migration, you should go through and test your new solutions to make sure that they all work correctly. This involves making sure that the data have made it to the new system in the correct format. Checking the system performance should also be a priority, as well as various security assessments like stress testing, penetration testing, and others.

Need a Hand with Data Migration?

MSPNetworks can help your business with its data migration needs. To learn more, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

We talk a lot about different types of technology, securing your technology and your accounts, and a lot of other technology-related issues on this blog, but because of the generalities of whatever technology (or strategy) we’ve chosen to write about that day, we never confront the thing that is most important to a business: How does any technology fit into what we do here? What value do we get from any type of technology? Today, we thought we’d talk a little bit about what you need to do to find the right technology for your business and how to come up with those decisions. 

Is Technology the Answer?

If we are asked by a new business to come up with a technology plan for their company, it may take a little bit of time but ultimately we could put together a comprehensive plan of technology and strategies to get that technology to work best for your organization. Similarly, if an established business came to us to get an assessment of what technology changes they would need to make to get the innovations built into new tools, we could tell them after some monitoring and an audit. 

The problem, however, is when a business comes to us with a plan of attack, investments made in technology, and operational problems abound. This is problematic because a business has already made the decisions they would need consulting on, and regardless of what we find and what tweaks to their operational and management procedures we suggest, they will need time to be able to implement them on the scale they would require, which typically would be some time away. 

The technology consultation process starts with questions; lots of questions.

You see, we can take a look at your infrastructure, your cache of software, your practices, policies, and procedures, and your budget; but we can’t know what your goals are unless you tell us. All that information goes into our opinion. You see, we may be the best IT consultants in New York, but we’re only as good as the information we have. 

Where we excel, and are a huge benefit for your business, is in the design, procurement, implementation, deployment, monitoring, and support of business technology. This brings us to the main benefit of hiring a managed IT services firm to assess and revamp your business’ technology: We have decades of in-house experience with the purchasing, setup, management, governance, and maintenance of the technology that businesses depend on to succeed. 

The truth is, our consultants and technicians can provide your decision makers with a comprehensive plan forward for your business technology; and, it may involve technologies you’ve never even considered. 

This is why you should give us a call at (516) 403-9001. We will work with you to find the technology that can help you generate the most revenue for management costs. If your plan is to turn a profit, technology can sure make a huge difference.

The United States has seen a push for the digitization of the dollar for some time now, with a few pros and cons to consider from this shift. Let’s go over these pros and cons now, and see if there are any parallels to be found to your business.

To begin our discussion, let’s go over what’s been happening recently in terms of the legislation.

Back in March 2022, There Were a Few Pushes Towards Digitizing Currency

In addition to President Biden signing an executive order which—amongst other calls to action—called for research into a United States Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced a bill—H.R. 7231, or “Electronic Currency and Secure Hardware Act”—to enable the US Treasury to create a digital dollar. This electronic currency, “coined” ECASH, would enable near-instantaneous transactions with a good chance of dramatically reduced processing fees. ECASH would not be a cryptocurrency, mind you, as CBDCs are classified differently.

This all came after the Federal Reserve tested a digital currency system codenamed Project Hamilton in February, after years of research and development by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Digital Currency Initiative. Meant to help explore the feasibility of a CBDC design in a wide-scale implementation, Project Hamilton peaked at about 170,000 transactions per second after bottleneck. While promising, this indicates that there is still a way to go before there’s a full replacement for the reserve currency the United States currently relies on.

What are Some Benefits and Drawbacks of Fully Digital Currency?

The benefits of digital currency are considerable. Not only could transactions—even those that cross borders—be carried out effectively instantaneously, as we mentioned, United States Representative Ayanna Pressley states that it would help create wealth inclusivity for “black, brown, and low-income communities.”

Having said that, a CBDC doesn’t inherently guarantee privacy, even if zero-knowledge proof technology is in place—which allows a system to confirm that knowledge is known without actually revealing the information that is known. Essentially, you have to trust the government backing the digital dollar to keep the protections of a zero-knowledge proof active…and not to arbitrarily change your personal privacy settings. More on this in a moment.

In addition to this, Representative Steven Lynch, the primary sponsor of the ECASH Act, called out some of the infrastructural issues that could get in the way of adopting a fully digital dollar. The lack of reliable Internet service in many areas of the country is a major hurdle that Lynch hopes this bill will help the country clear.

Going back to the privacy concerns, founder and research scientist of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab, Christian Catalini, shared his own predictions. He foresees ECASH as a system that relies on another plastic card—albeit one with some additional functions to it—that effectively stands in for cash. Basically, by using this card, the only data shared would be the successful transfer of a payment.

However, there are some challenges that need to be addressed. For instance, in order to avoid major criminal activity, full privacy would be impossible so that the financial system isn’t an accessory to crime. In addition to this, as ECASH lacks any form of ledger whatsoever, it would require the government to issue everyone a dedicated piece of hardware to use to handle and exchange ECASH locally—again, with limits as to how much the device could hold at once. It also is yet to be determined how funds would be added to the device, and if some form of identity authentication would be required to do so.

Catalini expects that these challenges will cause ECASH or whatever we ultimately get to be delayed for at least five years, with the various philosophical and technical questions likely pushing this delay out even further.

In the Meantime, We’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts!

Don’t hesitate to comment here and weigh in on the topic. Would you prefer all of your money handling to go digital? What are some of the pros and cons you can think of? Please don’t hesitate to share, and if you have any questions about securing your business’ dollars (or using IT to make more of them) be sure to reach out to us at (516) 403-9001!

The metaverse is a buzzword that many companies have been throwing around in recent years, but what is it, exactly? You might want to sit down for this one, as it is going to get a little complicated and, perhaps, even a bit confusing. We’ll do our best to unpack what the metaverse is, why there is such an emphasis on it these days, and what you might expect to see from a metaverse in the future.

What is the Metaverse?

You might be surprised to find out that the metaverse is certainly not a new concept. It has existed in some form or another for the past 30 years. The term first appeared in the 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, where it was used to describe a virtual world in which users could buy or sell virtual property and waltz around this virtual reality using their own customized avatars. The components which make up this idea of the metaverse are prominent to this day and exist in various capacities.

Thus, we can make a determination that a metaverse is a virtual environment where individuals can interact with one another in a reality much like our own. It is, for all intents and purposes, a place where you can build your own “virtual life” of sorts.

Why Are Businesses Focused on It?

The reason that businesses are so fixated on the metaverse is because they see it as the natural progression for technologies such as the smartphone and the Internet, for which the metaverse will effectively replace. They see it as an opportunity to create an interconnected virtual reality that bridges gaps between various apps, games, services, and so on. Major proponents of the metaverse like Matthew Ball and Mark Zuckerberg envision this future where the metaverse can be just as interconnected and functional as the modern Internet.

What Does the Future Hold for the Metaverse?

People are of the belief that technologies which enable the metaverse will allow it to flourish. These technologies—virtual reality, the blockchain, and NFTs—would help to make the metaverse a reality by providing avenues for exchanging goods, products, and properties within this virtual space. Perhaps, however, the excitement surrounding the metaverse is just a result of the post-COVID world, where people are starved for interaction with each other and are used to communication solutions like Zoom and other video conferencing platforms.

The idea of the metaverse, however, is held back by issues of interoperability. There are countless technical difficulties that can prevent individuals from transferring avatars and digital possessions from one application or virtual world to another, making the idea of a truly interconnected virtual world difficult to pull off in the way it was initially envisioned.

What do you think about the idea of a metaverse? Do you think it’s a bit far-fetched to imagine a virtual world where we can all interact in the same ways we might in the real world, or do you think there is some merit to investing in the idea? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

If you truly want to run your business effectively, it all starts with understanding how its costs break down. If you are armed with this knowledge, you can make better decisions about solution procurement and operations management. Let’s examine how you can cut costs without harming your business in the process.

Outsourcing Can Help

Outsourcing is often misunderstood, but it is an incredibly powerful tool to control your costs and improve operations. If you take part of your business that is costly to run normally, then outsource it to a provider, you get more stable costs and expertise that you might not normally be able to leverage.

Businesses have all sorts of outsourcing options these days, including gig workers or managed service providers. You can outsource help desks for support, or you can outsource recruitment and payroll. The sky's the limit, so to speak; if you can imagine it, you can probably outsource it, provided you find an appropriate vendor.

Data Allows for Better Decision-Making

The more data your business has, the more tools and resources it has at its disposal to enable better decision-making. You can look at data to learn about what has worked well in the past, what could work well in the future, and what needs to be addressed immediately. Data is key to the many types of initiatives you might have planned for the future.

Data analytics can give your business key insights into how it can be more efficient with sales, marketing, operational processes, and so on. It can help you build better consumer experiences and customer relationships, something which can increase revenue and give you more resources to work with in the future.

Keep Flexibility in Mind

You can provide greater value to your employees by keeping flexibility at the top of your mind. This means giving them tools to communicate and be productive whether they are in the office or on the move, and thanks to cloud-based resources and solutions, you can do this easily and efficiently.

Another way you can innovate and keep things flexible is through the use of artificial intelligence technology. An AI chatbot, for example, can free up employees for other tasks, focusing instead on tasks that generate revenue.

MSPNetworks can help your business be more cost-effective and productive at the same time. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Regularly, when a business is searching for ways to move their operations forward, there is a little hand wringing on how to do so. Every decision your business has to make comes with a price tag, and the more that you can do without spending a lot of money, the more value you are going to see. For this week’s blog, we thought we’d take a look at some actions you can take with your technology to ensure that your business is going in the right direction.

Procurement and Deployment

When you are looking to upgrade your business’ technology, cost is likely the most important variable. This leads to a tendency to prioritize smaller investments that don’t necessarily cost your business a lot of money. Unfortunately, any value-creating piece of hardware or software is going to take a substantial investment for your business. Fortunately, there are options out there that give decision makers options on how these investments are made. 

Traditionally, if your business needed a new server, your company would price out how much they would have to pay to buy the hardware, migrate all the data and applications from the old hardware to the new hardware, and whatever associated costs that come with the setup and management of a new server. If the server was brought in to add more computing to your existing infrastructure, the setup and integration of the new server would come with its own associated costs. 

Today, you can add to your business’ computing infrastructure faster and with powerful technology through the integration of cloud computing. The costs associated with cloud infrastructure are comparable to the ones that you would pay over time with a hardware lease, but with it you get integrated management and maintenance of that infrastructure. Since the only real drawback is that you need an Internet connection to access those cloud-based resources it is an excellent option for companies looking to quickly add powerful new IT solutions to their current infrastructure. 

Managing Security

One of the most difficult parts of managing a robust computing infrastructure is keeping it secure. In fact, a lot of the axillary costs associated with maintaining large IT systems are tied up in security. Of course, you can decide what level of security investment is right for your situation, but you have to take into account that the less you invest in keeping your business’ IT secure, the more likely you will deal with security breaches; a potentially devastating thing for your business.  

At MSPNetworks, we provide comprehensive network and infrastructure security solutions designed to keep the near neverending myriad of threats off of your business’ IT. We also can help you create policies and procedures that work to keep your staff trained and in-the-know about all types of potential security problems. Our technicians work with New York businesses every day, and in the course of doing business see a lot of situations that provide us with real world experience in dealing with potential threats. Not only can we outfit your business with the technology you need to help mitigate ongoing threats, we also have the ability to customize a security plan specifically for your business needs, even when it includes comprehensive training.

Innovation

If you talk to any technology professional that works with businesses, they will tell you that if you can manage to integrate automated tools, you will be improving your business’ efficiency. One of the most important considerations any business owner or decision maker has to make in today’s business environment is how to streamline operations and get their revenue-generating staff to do just that. A lot of businesses have their best people working in support roles over 25 percent of the time, no doubt cutting down on the organization’s effectiveness. 

In using innovative software platforms to help your business cut out huge wastes of time and prioritize productivity, you get more out of your business. Today, you can get all types of powerful applications for human resources, security, business operations, marketing, sales, collaboration, communications, operational support, and more. Aside from improved access, there are other benefits that utilize state-of-the-art tools like artificial intelligence that can automate more processes, further improving efficiency.

Regardless of how you want to approach it, getting more from your technology is important if you want to increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction and retention, and other variables important to building a more productive and efficient business. If you would like to have a conversation about how to use technology to help you build a better business give us a call at (516) 403-9001 today.

In efforts to curb the semiconductor shortage and jumpstart the technology industry, the United States Congress passed legislation that includes funding for manufacturing semiconductors. Partially in response to China’s increasing economic influence and partially in response to the semiconductor shortage, the CHIPS Act could be just what industry leaders need to kickstart the manufacturing of these important devices.

The “CHIPS and Science Act”

Many industry leaders have lobbied for Congress to take action, industry leaders like Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, as it has been predicted that the chip shortage could go well into 2024 if nothing is done about it. Intel was in the process of building its third semiconductor factory in the state of Ohio, but its progress has stalled due to delays in the legislation of the CHIPS act. The initial price tag associated with this factory is about $20 billion with costs exceeding $100 billion over the next decade.

The CHIPS Act is an acronym that stands for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors. It contains $280 billion, of which $52 billion will be allocated to support the domestic production of semiconductors. It is suspected that this investment in manufacturing could potentially lower the costs of devices that depend on them.

Semiconductors are used to power many of the business-critical technologies used by both enterprises and small businesses alike. They are used in workstations, server units, appliances, and even cars. It’s safe to say that this funding is a necessary step toward resolving the ongoing supply chain issues that have plagued businesses since the start of the pandemic.

The Supply Chain Doesn’t Have to Be Your Problem

If you have tried to purchase technology for your business, you know that right now it can be particularly difficult to get the technology you need, when you need it. The issues with the semiconductor shortage have had profound impacts on the way companies acquire important hardware, but this doesn’t mean that you have to suffer the consequences of it. If you’re sick and tired of searching for the right tools for the job, then MSPNetworks can help you out.

With our technicians on your side, you can get the most value out of your current solutions while also focusing on your needs in both the near and distant future. We can build a technology roadmap that accounts for issues like the current supply chain challenges so you can move forward with a sense of direction.

To learn more about what we can do for your business, contact us at (516) 403-9001.

It is a legitimate question whether something is actually art if it isn’t created by a human being. That’s before you are exposed to it, however. In fact, an AI created a piece of art that was crowned the winner at the Colorado State Fair. Let’s take a look at AI art in the context of this competition.

Let’s dive in.

Are AI-Generated Images Art?

At the Colorado State Fair, there is a fine arts competition where Josh Allen won the first place prize in Digital Arts/Digitally Manipulated Photography for his image, “Théåtre D'opéra Spatial.” When Allen provided a glimpse into his process via Discord, however, he was met with scrutiny. He used an image synthesis model called Midjourney to create the image.

As Allen said in his Discord post, he “...created 100s of images using it, and after many weeks of fine tuning and curating my gens, I chose my top 3 and had them printed on canvas after upscaling with Gigapixel A.I.” As he reports, he “could not be more excited” that his “favorite piece” ultimately won.

The rest of the community was a bit more critical of Allen’s choice. The image was produced with little actual hands-on work from Allen. Instead, it was built using the input that he plugged into the Midjourney platform. Allen wrote in his official submission, “I generate images with MJ, do passes with Photoshop, and upscale with GigaPixel,” and even labeled his piece with “Jason Allen via Midjourney.”

As you might not be surprised to hear, people have opinions on this topic, and many of these opinions cannot in good conscience be shared here. Still, there are many who believe that AI-generated art signifies the “death of artistry” and wonder “if creative jobs aren’t safe from machines, then even high-skilled jobs are in danger of becoming obsolete [sic] What will we have then?”

Art is Created and Judged In Accordance with the Technology of the Time

We understand why this has people concerned, but the fact remains that the tools we use today are simply taken for granted. An artist named Rhea Edge listed tools, techniques, and artists that use them, as well as when the tools were introduced, then shows that these tools also were not received well at the time.

In particular, Edge discusses the development of the camera obscura, a darkened room with a small hole in one side that allowed images to be projected onto a wall. This photography went on to inspire innovations in the art that are seen in modern day photography at large. Tubed paint was also a problematic topic due to artists not mixing their own paints. Artists were criticized right up until the 1970s and 1980s for these practices.

Edge also points out that art tends to change over time, highlighting how long it took the Impressionist painting style to really become an established style in the art world.

One other artist named Brian Simpson examines technology’s role in the development of art. He indicates that miniature portraits were essentially cut out entirely by the advent of photography. Simpson is also an advocate for Allen’s AI-produced artwork.

“There is a mind behind it. The mind is deciding I want this image. And with this image, this is the word I want to use,” Simpson said, going on to reflect on how Allen produced 40 images, ultimately choosing the ones he submitted.

“You can argue that choice and self-curation is part of the art process,” said Simpson.

This statement makes it clear that the current state of image creation and artwork still involves much human interaction, especially to achieve outstanding results like with Allen’s piece. How long this remains the case, however, is yet to be determined.

What are your thoughts on AI-generated artwork? Do you have any strong opinions on this topic? Be sure to share them in the comments below—and remember that AI is very well-established in the business world, so consider implementing it for your own company’s needs!

Manufacturers have long been at the forefront of technology. Today, this trend continues, but with new, innovative tools that are designed to make business more efficient and workers more productive. This technology has helped much of the manufacturing sector despite costs continually rising, supply chain interruptions, and other variables. Let’s take a look at some of the major technology changes that have fueled manufacturers during the past few years. 

Enhanced Digitalization

Manufacturers typically take materials and turn them into consumer goods or components for other manufacturers to use in their process. Many manufacturers have begun the process of digitization; meaning that they now are using digital systems to manage their business, interact with customers, and handle all the automation that has been tabbed to make their process more efficient. Most manufacturers have been using digital technology for quite some time, but some of the shifts that make these changes innovative include the leveraging of robots to do collaborative tasks.

Cobots

Artificial intelligence fuels this trend by using machines that are colloquially called “cobots”. Over 40% of manufacturers use robots and with smarter software the “cobots” can work alongside human workers rather than outright replacing them. This means these robots are much more affordable than traditional robots that typically replace human workers.

IoT

Another digital evolution for manufacturers comes from the Internet of Things. These sensors may not be built specifically for manufacturers, but they hold considerable value for them. The biggest benefit comes in the manner of predictive maintenance. Sensors can keep track of components and maintenance schedules, which can cut down on maintenance costs by a whopping 25 percent. If you consider that downtime can cost tens of thousands of dollars an hour, the more you can do to keep systems functioning as intended the better your business will be. 

Machine Vision

Another use of AI in manufacturing is called machine vision. It lets companies automate their quality control processes on each end of their business. Basically, it allows a manufacturer to run their operations faster than they would if they relied on humans to run point over their quality control. With machine vision detection, manufacturers can increase production and maintain a level of quality they expect from their process, a win-win for any manufacturer. 

Technology can help any type of business, but if you’re a manufacturer that could benefit from innovative new digital tools, reach out to the IT experts at MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001 today.

I feel like we’ve been talking a lot about the horrifying cybersecurity threats that loom over our heads, and thought it might be nice to really appreciate just how gosh-darn cool some of these devices we all have can be instead. 

Aren’t Mobile Devices Really Incredible?

I still remember the hype for the very first iPhone. To many very excited people, this was the first time a personal computer was going to fit in the palm of their hand.

Steve Jobs was an incredible genius at hype and marketing. He told his customers that he was changing the world with this new conceptual device, even though some of us nerds had been using Palm Pilots, Blackberrys, Windows CE, and Windows Mobile devices for years before the first iPhone was but a sparkle in his eye.

Still, you need to hand it to him, he brought the smartphone to the general public.

We’ve seen a nice gradual evolution of these devices over the last decade and change since the first iPhone was released, and I think a lot of that evolution has been so subtle that some of us really haven’t noticed just how great these devices truly can be.

Samsung DeX Turns Your Smartphone Into a Handheld Desktop

Have you seen this? 

It’s exclusive to Samsung’s line of Android smartphones, so if you’ve never jumped on the Samsung bandwagon, you might not have caught wind of it.

Samsung has this neat little app called DeX that gives you a desktop-like experience when you connect your Samsung smartphone or tablet to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

It’s not quite a full Windows experience—you are still using Android and your Android apps, but using Microsoft Office applications like Word and Powerpoint or surfing the web works great. 

Some Modern Tablets Can Be an Artist’s Canvas

While the tablet market hasn’t really found its place as much as we all thought it would a few years ago, there is still a very dedicated niche for them that has been very exciting for those extra creative types.

If you’ve ever seen the desk of a modern digital illustrator or artist, you’ve probably seen those huge expensive digital drawing tablets that they use. The leading brands tend to cost several thousands of dollars, and they are far from portable, chaining the user to their desk to draw and design.

Apple’s iPad has changed the game for artists when paired with Apple’s proprietary pencil, an extremely accurate device that gives artists control over every stroke. This is way different than using a typical plastic stylus on a regular touchscreen. Like the expensive Wacom drawing tablets that most hobbyists can’t afford, the Apple offers tilt and pressure sensitivity in a similar way that an actual pencil or paintbrush does. Low-cost, sophisticated illustration applications like Procreate can give the user a whole ton of tools to design, create, and digitally paint anything they want.

While Apple was definitely the first tablet manufacturer to nail this, Microsoft has a similar solution with their Surface line of tablets. It’s a little less accurate compared to Apple’s solution, but for most hobbyists, it is more than adequate. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab line of tablets also includes the Samsung S-Pen, which uses very similar technology as Apple does, and while the Procreate software is exclusive to Apple, Samsung partnered with Clip Studio and runs a fully-capable alternative in their ecosystem.

Smartphones Replace the Entire Entertainment System

Did you cut the cable? So many people have ditched cable television in their homes thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu. On top of that, YouTube and YouTube TV simply offer more content than you could ever possibly watch. 

If you’ve dropped cable, you probably ended up purchasing a Google Chromecast or Amazon Firestick and use that to access your streaming services, or you have a TV with Amazon, Google, or Roku built in. 

It’s still incredible to me (honestly, I feel like Tony Stark in my own living room) that I can pull up Netflix on my phone, tap on Stranger Things, and broadcast it straight to the television.

When was the last time you bought a DVD or Bluray? When was the last time you bought physical music? How about a physical book?

Okay, there’s still something special about physical books, but I digress.

Let’s Appreciate How Neat All This Stuff Is!

These devices that we carry every day are just so capable, and so convenient, and I don’t think we’ve even begun to scratch the surface.

Fitness tracking! Augmented reality! Mobile banking! Who would have guessed 10 years ago that you would be able to pay your dinner bill with your smartphone or smartwatch, and have your friend digitally send you their half of the bill over Venmo or Paypal?

Of course, with all of that, there are drawbacks.

Social media algorithms have definitely worn down a lot of people. Cybersecurity threats are a huge problem. We don’t quite know how much screen time is too much screen time for kids, and how all these carefully crafted, addicting systems play a role on young people. For some of us, it’s easy to ignore these problems and just use the mobile device for work emails and messaging, just as easy as it is to get totally hooked on doom-scrolling Twitter.

We hope that no matter what camp you are in, that you use technology wisely and safely. We hope that it brings joy and value to your life, makes you more productive, and makes it easier for you to enjoy the things that really matter to you.

There’s no lesson today. There’s no call to action. I just wanted to share some things I thought were really cool. What do you think? Do you have any cool stories about technology that you’d like to share with us?

When it comes to your technology infrastructure, it’s natural that some of your solutions will be more used than others, but do you know where you are wasting money and resources? Today’s blog article is all about the digital employee experience, or DEX, and how you can use it to better your business’ relationship with its technology solutions.

What is DEX?

Digital Employee Experience, or DEX for short, looks specifically at how effectively your team is using the tools at their disposal, as well as how they interact with them in the first place. Specifically, DEX should focus on tracking, assessing, and improving the employee’s technology user experience. We bet you can already start to see why it’s important to keep this in mind when implementing or examining your business’ technology solutions.

Why Should You Care?

Simply put, employees are more effective and more engaged in their work when they feel like their input surrounding how they get that work done matters. They want to have an easy time navigating their way through the various tools and user interfaces that you expect them to use on a daily basis. If you don’t take care of your employees’ DEX, they will be more likely to suffer from burnout, leading them to move on to a different place of employment that does prioritize such things.

Furthermore, the pandemic has many employees working in a remote or hybrid environment, meaning that the technology they use day-to-day is even more important than ever before. They want to feel connected to their coworkers and their organization, something which is incredibly difficult without an on-site presence. DEX can help you learn more about how to keep these employees engaged and satisfied with their work.

It can be difficult to admit that technology you have implemented over the years is no longer effective for your workforce, but that’s okay. Technology has evolved so much over the years that you can’t be expected to maintain the status quo with what worked twenty, ten, or even five years ago. Be willing to accept and embrace change, and you’ll find the workplace is a more enjoyable place for all.

Improve Your DEX with Managed IT Services and Training

You want to ensure that your team is actually using the tools at their disposal, and you want to know that they are satisfied with the tools you provide them. This is where managed IT services come into play. You can provide the best solutions on the market, complex with comprehensive support and training, to your employees. It doesn’t take a huge budget to offer this type of benefit to your employees; it just takes knowledge and industry expertise, both of which MSPNetworks offers in spades.

We can work with your staff to ensure they know how to use the technology at their fingertips. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Technology has come a long way, but so too have the threats which leverage it to their advantage. How have the cyberthreats which target your organization evolved over time, and what can you do to protect yourself?

There Are More Risks Today Than Ever Before

Modern tools such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and the cloud give businesses more options to get their work done, but they also represent additional avenues for hackers to attack. Automation can improve your work processes, for example, but it can also make it easy for phishing attacks and other types of threats to infiltrate your network.

This type of advancement means you need to take action. Here are three questions your organization must consider for its continued security and success.

Consider These Three Questions

Let’s examine some of the first questions you should consider for your business’ cybersecurity:

1. Are the security measures we have in place now enough to protect us from developing threats and risks?
2. Are we putting sufficient time into training our employees to be a security asset, rather than a source of vulnerability?
3. Are we preparing ourselves for the threats that will develop thanks to emerging platforms and new technologies?

What Else Should You Consider?

Furthermore, we have some other considerations your organization should look at to keep your technology safe.

Improve the Way You Seek Out Malware

There will always be the types of threats that are in your face and ready to demand a ransom, but more often than not, malware will sneak around in the background and mimic a legitimate user’s technology habits. You have several ways to combat this, such as automated security solutions and increasing your employees’ security awareness.

There Are More Threat Surfaces to Protect

More technology means better processes (when implemented correctly), but it can also mean more vulnerabilities to threats. Businesses need to take stock of their current risk management strategies to ensure that they are effective, even when implementing new technology, without making your systems too complex or hard to manage.

Improve Awareness at All Levels

Your IT department will likely handle most of the cybersecurity issues with your business, but awareness and adoption starts from the top down. If you don’t take security seriously, nobody else will. Now is the time to make security a priority by showing your team just how important it is.

Let’s Work Together to Protect Your Business

As managed IT providers, we work to protect our clients from the many current and emerging threats out there. By making things as easy as possible for businesses like yours to protect themselves from cyberthreats, we give you the power to take back your workday and focus on profits and more efficiently running your business.

To learn more about how we can help you make this vision a reality, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

With inflation proving to be a significant concern for businesses at the moment, reaching highs that it hasn’t in decades, there is a distinct need for businesses to get as much value as they can out of the investments they make.

Let’s discuss a few technologies that offer this more desirable cost/benefit ratio so you can consider them for your own use.

Could Technology Investment Reverse Inflation?

According to Morgan Stanley, potentially!

The financial services provider recently released their list of (as they call them) Deflation Enablers—companies that are trying to cut their customers’ costs despite inflation or product scarcity. Included on this list were a few automation platforms (Appian, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and UiPath) as well as supply chain efficiency software (C3.ai, Palantir, and Snowflake) as well as some other technology providers, like a little company known as Microsoft.

The idea is that by investing in solutions and services provided by Deflation Enablers—specifically, those that cut costs while boosting productivity—a business puts itself in a position to succeed, in spite of whatever economic challenges the world at large is facing.

Of course, that’s all well and good for these major companies… But what can the average business in New York do?  

What Many Companies Are Doing to Fight Inflation

There are a variety of ways that businesses can do (and are exploring) to save money and actively use their resources more efficiently. One big one that came about in response to the last few years’ increase in remote operations: office downsizing.

Businesses of all sizes, from small to enterprise, are actively considering how they can scale back their real estate and reinvest those dollars elsewhere—incidentally, many choosing to invest in IT and sales.

This is no accident, either. Remember, quite a few of Morgan Stanley’s Deflation Enablers were IT providers that focused on automating processes. Automation is inherently a cost-saving endeavor, as it effectively doubles your productivity for each employee it frees from a menial task.

Reach out to MSPNetworks to find out more about automation, and the other ways we can assist you in making your dollar go further. A few examples that come to mind are our inclusive managed services and our remote monitoring and management services.

Give us a call at (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

The way you invest your business’ IT budget will have a considerable impact on how it performs. If your technology dollars are well spent you should see improvement year-over-year. Technology improves time management and allows for more automation than ever, not to mention the cost savings you see as a result. Let’s briefly discuss the IT budgeting process and how to build budgeting priorities that work.

IT Spending has to Improve Your Business

When determining an IT budget, how your business is doing and where it is on your timelines dictates how aggressive you can be. It can be tempting to view your IT as just another cost of doing business, but it really is more than that. Your technology (and the state it is in) has an effect on your whole business. If it is lacking to address the operational (and technological) issues that your business has, little good can come of it. Employee morale will suffer, your productivity will slow, and over time, the degraded IT that your company uses may just become a metaphor for your business. 

 There are the costs associated with acquiring and subsequently upgrading your information technology, as well as training your staff to properly leverage these solutions. However, a good IT budget will also account for the odd inconveniences that will require some financial spending to resolve. Your IT budget is an investment. While some of it will be classified as a business expense, much of your spending will be into endeavors that help your business, either by increasing efficiency or reducing waste. Either way, your IT can be used to put your company in a better financial situation.

3 IT Budgeting Tips

If you’re unsure of how to proceed with budgeting your IT, we’ve compiled a short list of things you should (and should not) do during the process.

• Have a set budget for your IT - In order for your business to be able to utilize the caliber of technology it needs for success, you need to put forward the investment into those solutions.
• Invest in business enhancement - Whether you’re boosting your internal productivity or fortifying your business against threats that could keep you from conducting business as usual, your IT budget should be spent in ways that directly benefit your operations.
• Don’t be impulsive -. It is crucial that you go about investing in your IT strategically, directing funds to where they are needed and where they will help your business be more efficient and productive. 

We Can Help

The technicians at MSPNetworks can help you figure out how to best spend your allocated technology funds. We can help you target operational pain points and keep you on a reliable refresh schedule so that your business always has the IT it needs to succeed. Give us a call today at (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

For a business, technology solves a lot of problems. Covering operational pain points is what it does best, after all. Unfortunately, they come with their own pain points that have to be dealt with. In today’s blog, we’ll give you a list of common technology pain points a small business can have and how managed IT services go above and beyond to mitigate those problems. 

A Lack of IT Competency from the Top

One of the most familiar problems that businesses have with their technology is a complete lack of acumen when it comes to the decision makers of the business. It’s understandable that most business owners don’t have a strong IT background; that’s what they pay their IT staff for. The problem becomes when they don’t fully understand IT risks and how their IT strategy, systems, and support need to evolve as those risks evolve. 

To get management and IT on the same page there needs to be an open line of communication and an IT team staffed with people that can competently (and proactively) bring potential problems to light so that they can be confronted. The worst-case scenario is an IT team that acts independently without proper communication as it can lose the confidence of decision-makers and make an already difficult situation untenable. 

Setting Up Lines of Communication 

In today’s business environment, it isn’t always easy to get people on the same page. Sure, there are now a lot of options in which to do so, and that is half the problem. For a business to be successful there needs to be clear paths of communication from management to every level of the business, from the staff and the customers, and from the customers back to the business. This can be a challenge to set up and maintain, especially with app fatigue becoming a real issue. 

One of the best ways to circumvent bottlenecks in communication is to start with a strong management software with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities. Many industries have their own type of management software that not only gives clear lines of communication to all levels of a business, but can also work to automate a lot of the things that could hinder those lines of communication.

On top of that, every business needs to roll out a series of reliable communication tools, such as video conferencing with integrated Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), some type of direct messaging platform, and for businesses that rely on collaboration to churn out work, a dedicated collaboration platform that provides useful communication strategies designed to move business forward faster. 

Too Much to Do

Since IT is such a big deal in modern business, it may just be that there is simply too much on your IT team’s plate and they simply cannot possibly get everything they want to get done (or that you want them to get done) in the timelines needed. Since every department in the business relies on the IT team to keep their technology working optimally, it can be a major challenge for IT technicians and administrators to handle every request in the time demanded by your staff. 

There are a couple of solutions to this problem. One is to have a platform in place so that people can see exactly what tasks the IT team is scheduled with. This is an option in most central management programs and can go a long way toward helping decision makers and other staff understand just how much is being asked of their IT team.

Another great solution is to hire an outsourced IT team to handle projects or standard management and have your IT team focus on the other. This co-managed approach to IT support can really be beneficial as it provides your business with the expertise it needs to get all your technology demands covered, while also costing substantially less than hiring more IT technicians. 

Security is a Constant Issue

If you are a consistent reader of this blog, you know just how important cybersecurity is to the sustainability of your business. There are more, and ever-evolving threats out there that need your attention. All it takes is one IT security vulnerability to put your business in a precarious position, so ensuring that your systems are patched and updated, and that your crew are trained and properly using strategies and tools that give them the best chance to protect your business’ computing systems, is extremely important. 

Most businesses operate under some type of compliance mandates and typically do what they can to keep them from being a pain in their side, but we can’t stress enough the role your staff plays in the protection of your IT systems (and ultimately your business). Having policies in place and available training is something that wasn’t too commonplace for years, but today it is essential to keep your employees and your businesses' computing systems and data secure. 

At MSPNetworks, we can help your organization get the technology, comprehensive support, and the policymaking acumen you need to keep your business safe and your IT pain points from rearing their head too often. Give us a call today at (516) 403-9001 to learn just how useful our team of IT professionals can be for your business.

We’re always talking about boosting productivity and the role your technology has in that quest. What we don’t always talk about is how boosting innovation can help free up your employees to produce better results. It’s the same technology, and it can have multiple benefits. In this week’s blog, we’ll discuss how focusing on how these two thoughts can be one and the same.

Managing a staff today is harder than ever. Not only do employees have more say over where they work and what they do than ever before, they also can do more work from more places today and expect their employer to understand this fact. This has led to some pretty tense moments over the past year as the world tries to find some semblance of “normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic changed business. 

Productivity the Metric, Starts with Productivity the Action

Productivity has long been the measure used to define workers, departments, businesses, and industry as a whole. The more productive people are the better everything is, at least that is what we are all told. There is some truth in this. Don’t you feel better when you get more done? Doesn’t sustained productivity make you “good” at something? 

When individuals inside your organization are more productive, it stands to reason that your whole organization will be more productive. Technology has been a large facilitator in increased productivity, of course, and it can help in many ways.

First, getting the right tools for the jobs that need to get done is a priority consideration. This starts on the administrative side of your business. Standardizing management tools can not only go a long way toward getting a more efficient business, it can do wonders for your organization’s productivity. One tool, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can bring a great deal of automation to your operations, your sales and marketing, and your overall relationship with your customers (it’s in the name).  The CRM works to automate a lot of the communication, time tracking, and customer interaction that you will have, making collaboration easier to muster and successful customer experiences much more likely. 

The less time your employees spend on the management of these relationships, the more they can focus on doing more revenue-generating activities; in essence, boosting productivity. In fact, the CRM, while probably the best tool a business can use to automate a lot of the back-and-forth that can bog down their workdays, is just one of many tools that are pushing business productivity forward. Today, there are productivity suites (again, in the name) that are cloud-based platforms that provide workers with the tools they need to be productive and the capabilities needed to collaborate in real time, 

Speaking of the cloud, many businesses—especially those that moved their operations offsite due to the pandemic—are now using cloud-based resources more than ever. Not only do cloud tools allow for anytime, anywhere access, they also allow businesses to cut their upfront capital computing costs (since they don’t have to buy the server and software licenses) and their maintenance costs (since the provider handles those). All-in-all the cloud is a great technology for smaller businesses that want to compete with enterprise businesses that have been leveraging the technology for over a decade.

Free Up Your Operations with Technology

Businesses are finding it difficult to innovate. With margins striking because of rising costs, smaller businesses need to get the most out of their staff. The best way to do this is through the use of technology. We established how businesses are able to use automated tools to be more productive, but it can also have a massive benefit on the quality of your offering. 

Consider how much time and effort your staff has to put into just adhering to the strict guidelines imposed on them on a day-to-day basis. Now consider if they were less inundated with minutiae and procedure and were able to communicate with a click of a button, manage their schedules and their client responsibilities in minutes and do all of that with more effectiveness. This seems like a win-win situation for your business, right? Here are three innovations to your business’ technology that you can use to free up your people:

• AI Chat Bot - Supporting your products is essential but it is short on revenue generation. For the small business where employees tend to wear a lot of hats, support can really cut into their ability to focus on their productivity tasks. Businesses of all sizes are starting to use tools featuring some type of artificial intelligence. One of these can take a giant load off of your employees’ shoulders. With AI technology powering an Internet-based support platform, your product and service support can continue to improve and provide the value your customers need, while also eliminating a lot of the time and effort expended by your employees.
• Internet of Things - Utility bills keep climbing and if they are handled manually there is a significant risk for you to spend more than you budget for. With IoT technology powering your HVAC systems, lighting, and more, you can significantly cut your utility costs and do it in an extremely affordable manner. Besides that, IoT can be leveraged in many other ways including inventory management and asset tracking, two parts of your business that are traditionally handled by employees. 
• Data Insights - One of the biggest challenges for a business is to correlate data in a way where you can get definitive answers to the issues you face. With today’s business analytics and business intelligence platforms, a company can use data in ways that would be literally impossible through traditional means. Your data can give you the answers to solve a lot of operational problems and through big data initiatives, your business can get smarter fast. 

At MSPNetworks, we pride ourselves on helping New York businesses become the most profitable organizations they can be through the integration of technology and best practices. If you would like to learn more about how to utilize automation and more innovative technologies to cut costs, be more efficient, and improve your bottom line, give us a call today at (516) 403-9001.

It’s safe to say that businesses have had a difficult time lately. In addition to the issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have also had to deal with supply chain issues and other challenges related to their data. How does your company manage its mission-critical technology solutions?

Managed Services Can Provide Modern Businesses with a Reprieve

It’s not much of our business, but we can’t help but wonder how you pay for your IT services. Depending on the business model, you might be paying in a way that is not sustainable over time. If you pay for your IT on a case-by-case basis, for example, you could very well be losing capital in the long term.

The issue with pay-as-you-go IT services is that there’s no motivation for the provider to solve issues in the long term.

If you think about it, you will never get the IT services you deserve from an organization whose business model relies on your failures. If you don’t need them at all, then they will go out of business—it’s as simple as that.

Managed services are designed to address this shortcoming. Instead of focusing on problems as they arise, managed services work to actively prevent and deter issues from becoming problems in the first place. It’s like changing the brakes on your car before they get worn down entirely, causing a crash that could total your vehicle. With a comprehensive managed services agreement, your technology can be maintained in a way that prevents catastrophe from striking in the first place.

This Predictability is Something that Today’s Businesses Need

In such uncertain times, the last thing you need is to worry about whether or not your technology will work tomorrow when you go to the office or remote into your desktop. This uncertainty can lead to many challenges when managing business technology.

By making the switch to managed IT services, you can make considerable strides toward making your technology management practices much easier and more predictable. It can give you more of an ability to budget for IT challenges, as issues that would normally incur severe costs will instead be covered by your managed services agreement.

MSPNetworks can help you take the next step toward taking back control of your IT budget. To learn more about how you can achieve this, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

It feels like streaming is everywhere these days, from video content to music to video games. Coincidentally, it also happens that innovations in cloud streaming have allowed these entertainment mediums to flourish in “as-a-service” type offerings. Just how have the innovations in technology allowed streaming services to grow and expand? Let’s investigate.

What is Streaming?

Remember the good old days when you couldn’t stream video without it being a massive time sink or spending loads of time waiting for the video to buffer? Gone are those days. Streaming is the continuous transmission of video or audio content over the Internet. It’s what powers services like YouTube, Spotify, and other music and video streaming services. Even some games can be streamed over the Internet now. Essentially, the data for these files are stored on a server somewhere, then get sent a little bit at a time to the user.

The Difference Between Downloading and Streaming

It used to be the case that you would have to download the entire file before you could use it on your PC, but streaming offers a better approach. Rather than saving a copy of the file to your hard drive, streaming allows users to simply play them from their web browser through an Internet connection.

All that said, a big difference between downloading and streaming is that, well, it requires an Internet connection. Without a good one, your connection will not be stable, creating problems for whatever you are trying to stream. For example, a video might need to buffer if your Internet connection cannot keep up with the rate of download. In a lot of ways, you can compare it to the way that many companies rely on the cloud for their computing. While it is great to have the content ready and available locally, sometimes accessing it through the Internet is easier and more efficient. However, without that connection, access is cut off.

The Technology

When you stream something from the Internet, the file is split into data packets containing video and audio. These data packets are essentially compressed files that are designed to be sent and unpacked at their destination. Ultimately, how the streaming provider goes about doing this is up to them, and it is largely based on the purpose of the streaming and what value it provides to their customers.

For example, when streaming video content from Netflix, the quality of the video and audio is a pretty big deal. In comparison, a video conference with multiple attendees might prioritize connection with others for real-time interaction over the quality of video and audio.

Two of the more common transfer protocols used by streaming services are user datagram protocol (UDP) and transmission control protocol (TCP). They are typically used for two different types of streaming. TCP provides a dedicated connection between the server and the client to ensure that all of the content is received properly. UDP, on the other hand, cuts some corners, so to speak. The result is that TCP makes for a more reliable connection compared to UDP, but UDP offers a faster and more efficient connection.

In the aforementioned example, you might see how the two can be used for two different purposes. TCP is better when the content delivered needs to be lossless, while UDP is better in situations when some loss is acceptable. In the end, streaming providers go with the option that allows them to provide the best services possible to their clients based on the goods and services they are rendering.

We hope you learned something interesting and new about the technology behind streaming services with today’s blog. What are some topics you would like to see us cover in the future? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

With Amazon’s annual Prime Day having come and gone, we can’t help but wonder how many of you bought consumer electronics while they were on sale through the web retailer. If you did, that’s amazing, and we’re glad you got what you’re looking for. However, we do want to strongly urge you to consider disposing of your old electronics in an environmentally conscious way.

Why is E-Waste Bad?

Consider how quickly we go through consumer electronics. How often do you replace your smartphone? If most adult humans in the world have a smartphone that they replace every couple of years, e-waste can accumulate remarkably fast. That’s without mentioning the countless laptops, desktop PCs, appliances, and so on that go bad or are replaced by newer, better, more modern technology that makes your life easier.

Even though there is markedly less spending on new electronics, and the supply chain has been significantly disrupted due to the ongoing pandemic, people are still going to buy new technology, leading them to discard their old. The problem is that these devices don’t get properly recycled; instead, they get shipped to landfills in third-world countries where they collect into massive mounds of electronic waste.

These devices are not cheap to produce, and they contain several valuable metals within their components, like gold, silver, copper, iron, and platinum, along with harmful chemicals that are horrible for the environment and the people who inhabit it, like mercury, lead, and cadmium.

Don’t Forget to Wipe, Either

It’s not just the e-waste that becomes a problem for businesses and users, either; it’s the data stored on these devices. Oftentimes, people will forget that these devices house immense amounts of data that could be valuable to others for the right price. You never know who could be rummaging through landfills trying to find working devices that they can then crack and sell to interested parties. To prevent this from happening, you must wipe all data from your devices before recycling them. In many cases, this means physically destroying the hard drive so it is unrecoverable entirely.

We Are Happy to Help!

If you are unsure of how to properly dispose of your old electronics, MSPNetworks can help point you in the right direction. We can help you wipe your company’s old devices so that they no longer contain sensitive user data on them, as well as locate a place that can and will recycle your devices so that they don’t wind up in an overcrowded landfill halfway across the world.

To learn more about how you can do your part for a safer, healthier, and cleaner environment, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

What does your IT budget look like for the remainder of this year? According to Gartner, your IT costs might be increasing. So, we ask you this: are you being intentional with your IT spending, and are you spending your business’ hard-earned revenue on technology which advances your organization’s ability to succeed? Let’s take a look at Gartner’s study to see what we can learn from patterns in IT expenses.

IT Expenses Projected to Rise

Gartner predicts that IT spending will increase globally by about 3 percent this year, totaling $4.5 trillion. While this growth is slower than that of 2021, it’s still significant in that the world is still experiencing issues with the supply chain and technology acquisitions as a result of the global pandemic and ongoing global conflicts. The bulk of this spending is being attributed to cloud services and data centers, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the trends over the past couple of years.

But Isn’t Technology Hard to Come By?

The big question is why there is so much spending occurring, something which John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner, is attributing to higher potential prices moving into the future. IT decision makers would rather commit to new technology now before it gets even more expensive in the near future. In a way, this makes sense, especially with many companies having issues acquiring technology. They would rather take preventative action now to prevent themselves from spending too much later by investing now.

Other notable numbers related to IT spending for the remainder of 2022 include the following:

• An increase in cloud spending of about 22.1%
• An increase in server spending of about 16.6%
• A decrease in PC sales of about 5%

Take Action with Managed Services

Businesses spend a lot of money on IT, but that doesn’t mean that you have to. Managed IT services give you access to more affordable technology management and maintenance options than ever before, and with MSPNetworks on your side, you can increase your bottom line while transforming capital costs into operational expenses.

To learn more about how we can help your business, reach out to MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001.