MSPNetworks Blog

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.

There are countless issues that could arise when it comes to managing and maintaining your technology, but the people who are in charge of the process should not be one of them. If you don’t have a dedicated IT team to take care of your business technology, you might not be properly maintaining your technology. Thankfully, there are ways to get around limited resources, and it might not be what you think.

Who Manages Your Technology?

As is often the case with businesses with limited resources, more employees wind up doing more tasks than they should be. Sometimes businesses expect their employees to have a baseline understanding of technology, but it is not necessarily the case. In fact, assuming this can be dangerous, and untrained employees should absolutely not be maintaining your technology solutions. Under the wrong circumstances, an untrained employee could cause irreparable harm to your infrastructure.

Plus, consider the fact that poorly functioning technology can get in the way of employees doing their jobs properly, reducing productivity and impacting your bottom line. Employees who don’t know any better will simply let the dysfunctional technology be, which is why it’s better to have professionals handle the maintenance on a regular basis.

One of the biggest hold-ups for businesses without internal IT resources is that they don’t have the budget to hire full-time technicians to take care of all their technology challenges. They might choose to address problems as they occur rather than before they occur, and this could impact operations in a negative way.

The conundrum is that companies need regular IT maintenance, but they can’t afford or access it. So what’s the solution? It’s actually pretty simple: managed IT services.

The Good News

Whether you have an in-house IT team or not, all businesses can gain access to the IT support they need to be successful in the business world, and it’s all thanks to outsourcing. Most maintenance and management of technology systems can be performed without the need for an on-site visit, so it doesn’t matter what your geographical location is. Plus, considering how affordable it is compared to adding more salaries to your budget, you’ll find that it saves you time and money.

MSPNetworks wants to be your go-to IT resource for all of your technology needs. To learn more about what we can do for your business, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

You’ve no doubt noticed that innovation is motoring ahead and a lot of businesses are now implementing technology to help build efficient, reliable processes to improve business operations and customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, many companies hang on to outdated methods for evaluating and implementing technology and it results in substantial lost value. Today, we will go through a few ways you can get the value your business needs from its technology decisions. 

Get a Tighter Grip on Your Tools

One of the biggest challenges for the constantly evolving company is getting the software in place that will allow you to maximize your staff’s talent and get the biggest bang for your buck. Unfortunately, software is difficult to manage. If you consider that you need dozens of pieces of software to run your business, you may find that, over time, you tend to waste money on it. If yours is like other companies—where major software decisions take some time—you’ll find it more valuable to focus on results. ‘

Think about it, you spend all this time and effort on creating an environment where your staff can be productive, only to waste capital on redundant programs and unused cloud accounts? That makes no sense. Most business’ employees have a pretty good idea of what they need to do their jobs successfully. Listen to them on this issue.

Additionally, the leaner your software deployments are, the more value you are going to see from them. This means eliminating redundancy: where you don’t pay for apps that do the same thing. You control your cloud costs. You don’t inundate your staff with app fatigue. By keeping it simple, while also getting your team the tools they need to be more productive, you can keep value high in your software investments. 

Scale Implementation

Too many businesses have people who decide they want to do something and just jump into it with both feet. That is the quickest way to throw dollars down the drain. You need to take your new technology implementations step-by-step. You need to first understand how the proposed investments are going to alter your business, good or bad. The best way to do this is to stay agile and to do that, you need to avoid bogging down your operational staff with beta tests of new software. You need to strategically seek out the people that can help you ease these solutions into the operational hum-drum of your business. 

Some new software is going to take some time to catch on, and the more prepared you are to implement end-to-end processes the more efficient your business is going to be when it is time to deploy new solutions. If you want to get the most value out of your new technology investments, you will want to consider how it will affect your business now and in the future. The best investments will give you a nice ROI fairly quickly if you roll them out when they are ready, not when you want them to be.

Always Have a Contingency

When making big technology investments, you need to rely heavily on your IT people, whether they are in-house technicians, or a managed IT service provider like MSPNetworks. Any IT professional worth his/her salt will demand that everything has a fallback plan. Implementations don’t always go smoothly, but with an agile approach, the deployment times can be faster and more conducive to bringing in substantial value. 

Having backup and recovery systems in place, as well as options that IT professionals can take to circumvent large delays in deployment can make all the difference when it comes to getting value out of your IT implementation. The more prepared you are when implementing innovative new technologies, the better your end result will be.

Deploying new technologies and building a more profitable business don’t have to be mutually exclusive strategies. Contact the IT professionals at MSPNetworks to get help getting your business’ IT where you need it to be. 

Remote work has been growing for years, but as it becomes more commonplace it becomes more difficult for business owners and managers to ascertain how engaged a remote employee is. This week, we thought we’d discuss a couple of ways that you can keep your remote employees engaged and productive. 

Engagement is More Than Production

The first thing you have to understand about remote employees is that most of them do better work faster from the comfort of their own homes than they do from an office. It’s just the fact that people take less time to do something productive when they don’t have to factor in all the other variables that come into play when they leave their house. 

Another thing that you have to understand is that a remote worker has much more to distract them from work than workers that work in an office. Which is why it may seem like they are a little less productive, even if they are meeting their key performance indicators (KPIs) and meeting their deadlines. 

This all translates to a very confusing situation. Let’s take a look at three tips that can help you keep your remote workers engaged.:

You Still Need Culture

Your company culture is more than the free coffee and donuts (or beer) you provide, it is the way that your business treats its employees. When building a team of remote workers this can be kind of pushed aside for more practical decision making, but it is still extremely important to keep your team as engaged as you want them to be. Shared goals and interests connect people and encourage better work and communication.

One tip that can help you keep building your company culture is to have some fun on your collaboration tool or instant messaging platform. If you set up a “just for fun” channel where your team can communicate, share stories, memes, jokes and more, you will see more engagement out of the team members that need that sort of thing while they work remotely. Another tip could be to set up optional meet-ups such as a happy hour or a virtual meeting at the end of the week so people can interact with team members they may not come into contact with in the execution of their work. The more “normal” you can make working from home, the more productive and comfortable your team will be. 

Get the Right Tools

Remote workers depend on the software you provide them, so it stands to reason that the most engaged remote workers will have access to software that makes this a priority. There are a wide range of different technologies available today that can create close working conditions for remote workers. Whether it's collaboration software, video conferencing, or simply just a well-tested instant messaging platform, your remote teams will be better off if they have access to tools that make collaboration easier and communication less of a chore. 

Provide Emotional Feedback and Support

One often overlooked part of working from home are the pressures that come from the home. Some people can handle them a lot better than others. Proper organization communication is the most effective way to keep remote employees engaged, while also helping managers have a substantial effect on their motivation and productivity. No matter where you work from, you want to know that the company you work for sees you as an individual and not just a number on the end of a VoIP channel.

You’ll want to maintain regular communication with your remote employees, provide timely and constructive feedback, give them goals to achieve and establish a level of trust that makes them want to be engaged and productive. 

Having remote employees may not always be easy, but the more it becomes commonplace, the more managers need to understand that it’s not the same as working from an office. If you would like to talk to one of our consultants about getting the technology your remote team needs to help build engagement and be as productive as they can, give MSPNetworks a call today at (516) 403-9001. 

For years, we’ve heard about how machines are coming for our jobs. We may even know some people who have been replaced by machines of some sort. This has given workers an overarching fear that once the machines are smart and capable enough to do what they do, that they will be out on their cans with few real options. This is mostly a fallacy. Today, we will explore the notion that machines are out for our jobs and how they may actually work to make our jobs better. 

The Correlation Between Automation and Downsizing

There is no secret that in order to run a business effectively you have to spend less than you take in. It seems like pretty simple math, but unless you’ve worked in management, you’d be surprised how little shifts in business make this possible sometimes. One regrettable way a company cuts their costs is to let their workers go. After all, payroll is still one of (if not the) largest expenses many businesses have. With new technologies being introduced that make it possible to replace the work of certain employees, it can cause some consternation and fear among the workforce. 

Some workers are going to lose their jobs due to automation, that much is true. Some people--mostly those who had jobs that computer-based machines can do much faster and much better--will be casualties of their business’ shift in strategy. A good manager will find the resource that does the job that’s needed more effectively, and in today’s business environment, many times these are AI-driven smart technologies. That’s not to say that smart technologies don’t offer other opportunities for some workers, however. 

Let’s take a brief look at one industry that is primed to be overtaken by automation: truck drivers. Today, several manufacturers are creating technologies designed to ship goods from one place to another using autonomous vehicles. This has been in the works for a while now, and it looks as if the technology is going to be a major disruptor in that industry. For decades, truckers were protected by unions, but as the unions started to lose their power, many became independent contractors. This leaves them no hope if the businesses they currently drive truck for start purchasing and using automated vehicles to move goods.

Furthermore, the aging truck driver may not have the skills necessary to compete for a similarly-paying job. The fear is that as technology becomes a disruptor in industries like this that the people that are cast out won’t have the resources to educate themselves for a new job; leaving those people to work lower-wage jobs, or worse yet, become dependent on the government. The business, which always wants to do more with less, can, but workers that are cast aside by this newfound efficiency become a cautionary tale. This is not ideal for anyone. 

Strange, But True

This us vs. them story is the way of business. Competition is said to make the market economy possible. What isn’t often mentioned is that automated systems don’t have to replace workers. They will to some degree, of course, but the lion’s share of workers can thrive with the use of automated systems; especially the ones that learn as they go. Why is this narrative not observed more? It’s simple, the story of a person whose job responsibilities change with the deployment of AI isn’t as interesting as a story about swaths of workers that are displaced by corporate greed. 

The truth is that many businesses will be using automation to make their employees’ work experiences better. There are a lot of procedural tasks that need to be completed, there are emails to be written and sent out, there are reports to be run. This is true whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a mom-and-pop pizzeria. The truth is that as it stands today there are a minimal amount of tasks that can (or should) be completed by smart tech. Automation can actually have an extremely positive impact on people’s ability to do work. It can allow businesses to cut costs while also providing a pathway to get their workers to focus completely on revenue-growing tasks. So the dichotomy between automation and the modern workforce doesn’t necessarily have to be disruptive, it can also be good for both the business and the worker. 

For the company that is making the choice about increasing the prevalence of automation over the next few years, their workforce will be at the forefront of this shift, not left behind like many have projected. Let’s go back to the automated trucks. Every automated truck so far has required there be a passenger (driver) in the truck at all times to ensure things go smoothly. These shipping professionals may not be driving the truck as they did in the past, but they are still employed and with the benefits that automation brings to the industry, they will still be paid in line with what they were making when they were the operator of the vehicle. Companies will save money on logistics, fuel costs, and more, but as of this writing there aren’t many plans to cut out these professionals, just alter the job a bit. 

What are your thoughts about automation and smart technology’s effect on the modern worker? Do you think that these smart systems will eventually replace the skilled labor fields, or do you think that people and machines can work in concert to provide better work environments and stabilize rising costs? Leave your thoughts about this issue in the comments section below. 

Running a business can be stressful, and if you can’t find time to juggle the countless variables that are at play every day of the week, you’ll quickly find yourself falling behind what needs to be done. Technology is one such area where falling behind is easy, especially when it comes to purchasing and implementing new tools. Unfortunately, your IT budget is not limitless, so how can you make the most of it? Let’s take a look.

Identify Inefficiencies

When you need to make your investments count, it can often be difficult to make large purchases without a little bit of reticence. You should first determine where your business could benefit from technology spending, then make implementing these solutions a priority. If you can address inefficiencies in your operations, you’ll be more likely to gain more from your technology and, thus, make the investment worthwhile.

For example, if you have ten employees and two of them have two displays, then these two employees are likely getting more work done than the rest of your employees. If you can invest in eight more monitors, then you can exponentially increase productivity for the entire crew, making the investment an excellent way to reduce inefficiencies. There are tons of other ways your business can use this principle to make the most of its technology budget—you just have to think a little outside the box and examine the baseline operations of your infrastructure.

Invest in Training

You can invest in technology, but you can also invest in something which is less likely to break down and require replacing eventually: training. If you purchase new technology or equipment, your employees will need to know how to use it. By ensuring that your employees are properly trained, they’ll be more likely to yield a return on investment for your new technology solutions.

What it really boils down to is that the better your employees are at doing their jobs, the more money they will save you in the long run. By training your employees, you are giving them access to knowledge and tools that will aid them while going about their duties. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Association of Talent Development, companies that invest in comprehensive training programs see 218 percent higher income than those that don’t.

Furthermore, today’s threat landscape is so advanced that your employees will need all the help they can get to avoid falling prey to a hacker or other advanced cyber threat. If you invest in security training now, you can save money by preventing security breaches in the future. Plus, it will help you maintain customer relations; nobody wants to work with a business that doesn’t take security seriously, after all.

Outsource

Outsourcing can be an effective way to take advantage of goods or services you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. It effectively gives you access to more for less, and it helps to control costs in the budgeting process. In particular, outsourcing technology services can be an effective way to keep your IT in proper working order. Through managed services like those provided by MSPNetworks, you can utilize all kinds of technology solutions that you might otherwise have difficulty implementing with limited resources at your disposal.

One common way that businesses outsource is with their cloud platform, but the cat isn’t out of the bag yet in regards to how much ROI you actually get from implementing it. Still, the fact that outsourcing gives you access to solutions you wouldn’t otherwise be able to manage is more than enough reason to consider it. Outsourcing your cloud, for example, gives you the ability to scale your services per user or per GB used, so you can still leverage the services according to your operational needs.

If you partner with a company like us, you can take advantage of several services designed to help your business thrive and gain value from technology. Here are some examples:

• Comprehensive backup and disaster recovery
• Remote monitoring and proactive management of all IT
• Best in New York technology procurement
• Dynamic cybersecurity tools
• Patch and licensing management
• Vendor management

And more. 

Even without a huge IT budget, your business can be successful and innovative. To learn more about how you can accomplish this, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

There is a microprocessor shortage influencing all kinds of businesses around the globe, and it’s only going to get worse following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine produces somewhere between 45 and 54 percent of the world’s semiconductor-grade neon, something which is absolutely crucial to the creation of microchips. The invasion has put a halt to neon-refinement companies Ingas and Cryoin, and as you can imagine, this puts a massive strain on an already struggling supply chain.

This suspension of production has led to even greater uncertainty over the worldwide production of microchips, something which is a huge problem. Smartphones and other devices are in high demand, especially thanks to the supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The past 18 months have seen major increases in both demand and prices for products such as computers, smartphones, cars, and more, all thanks to the decrease in availability of microprocessors. With two of the largest neon manufacturers out of operation, these problems are only going to get worse.

Fortunately, however, these major chip manufacturers keep a stockpile of neon, but it’s likely that this stockpile will be depleted as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict drags on. As such, it’s possible to see shortages in new microchip-run devices and products, and that’s not to mention the increase in price that the demand will cause. In an ironic twist, the Ukrainian neon market is a byproduct of Russian steel manufacturing, so it’s unlikely that the situation will be resolved before this conflict comes to an end.

Russian violence has affected the neon market in the past, like in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, a region which was part of Ukraine. This situation resulted in neon prices skyrocketing by 600 percent, and you can bet that consumers ate the costs that this increase produced.

While some large chip manufacturers have been able to make arrangements with distributors to acquire the necessary materials to continue production, smaller manufacturers will struggle to maintain operations if the conflict doesn’t come to an end. It’s possible that this neon shortage could have a significant global impact. Industries and governments could initiate their own neon production, but this production could take anywhere between 18-to-24 months to actually get off the ground, and that’s not even mentioning the massive price tag associated with it. Many are hoping that this conflict is a temporary one so they don’t have to resort to this.

This conflict and the resulting shortage has forced us to reexamine the way we procure technology, but rest assured that we will always work to help your business get the technology it needs to push ever-onward. To learn more about how we can help your business make the most out of its current and future technology acquisitions, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.