There’s a mythical status and goal that almost every user of the Internet strives to reach, small business owners more so than most everyone else. That status is zero new emails in your inbox. You can probably count the number of times this has happened on one hand. While it would be nice to reach zero, you should instead be focusing on ensuring your inbox is allowing you to be productive.

Here are four tips on how you can gain control of your inbox, and become more productive with your email.

1. Schedule time to check email. Many managers rush to check their email as soon as a new one comes in, they have this feeling that they're going to miss something important. Barring a massive meltdown of your system, that’s not going to happen. Instead, all that happens is you break your concentration and end up wasting time. What you should do is schedule 3-4 times a day to check and reply to emails.
2. Filters. Your standard inbox is a dumping ground, all emails important and otherwise go to the same place. Through the use of filters, you can ensure similar emails are grouped together into folders that will make it easier for you to pick and choose which are most important. Creating a filter can be done in many email programs with the press of a button.
3. R&R. This stands for Read and Respond, which is what you should be doing with every email. When you look at your email, read through it and take necessary action. If it’s an email that someone else can reply to, forward it right away. If it’s an email that will take time to reply to, mark it as important, send an acknowledgement and take the necessary actions. Basically don’t collect emails you will forget about eventually.
4. Subject lines, use them. Time and time again, the subject line is neglected, or used improperly. How many emails have you gotten that have a subject that doesn’t make sense? Remember the purpose of the subject line is to inform the recipient what to expect in the body of the email. As such, subjects should be clear and informative and convey the main point of your message.

Through the efficient use of subject lines, the R&R method and filters you should find that you’re not only more productive due to less interruptions, but you will be able to quickly assess and act on the most important emails. With a good system, you should, in the long run, spend less time focusing on your email, and more time focusing on work. If you have any other questions about how to conquer your inbox, please contact us.

The main ethos of businesses these days is to make do with what you have, or minimize spending in the hopes of turning a profit. This can be tough for businesses who have to replace their technology. While it may be cheaper to buy customer based solutions, this can prove to be a negative practice that could actually harm your business in the long term.

Here are five reasons you, as small businesses owners, should aim to buy technological solutions and products that are specifically designed to meet your needs, not those of the masses.

1. Long-term time and money costs. In general, consumer grade technology is made using cheaper, less durable materials than that of the business equivalent. More often than not, consumer products will break down long before business grade. When they do, you’re stuck paying for the replacement parts or sending the unit in for repair. Beyond that you’ll also have to spend the valuable time dealing with the problem.
2. Greater ability to recover costs. Business technology does cost more, however, it’s made with better materials that increase product life. Beyond that it decreases the need for maintenance and will make it more appealing to buyers when you sell it, thus allowing you a higher chance of recovering costs.
3. More features. The problem with technology developed for the consumer market is that it’s often developed with features that will be the most useful to the majority. This could be a problem for companies as you’ll be paying for features you don’t need, while lacking ones that you do need. Many business devices also have features that can be tailored to meet a business's needs, or offer devices with increased functionality.
4. Warranty. The majority of consumer tech has a limited to non-existent warranty. Many laptops have one year limited warranties that, in truth, cover very little. Business hardware can have a standard three year factory warranty which guarantees the device won’t break for three years. Aside from that, many vendors will send someone to repair the device within the next day, if you buy business grade.
5. The best customer support. It’s a high probability that you’ve had a device break and had the wonderful opportunity of dealing with consumer technical service. This is not the case for the majority of business hardware and software developers. Many companies provide 24/7 support and have employees who understand that your technology is essential to operations, and will work to get your system back as fast as possible.

While in the short term, it may seem like a good idea to buy consumer technology, it’s a solution with long-term drawbacks. If you are looking for new technology but don’t know where to start, please contact us we can help.

Business Intelligence (BI) has become a major aspect of business, as such, companies large and small are adopting implementing BI projects. The problem is, this can cause concern regarding job safety among other things. These “myths” can quickly spiral out of control and demoralize a whole office or company. In order for this not to happen, you should be aware of the common myths related to BI.

Myth #1: BI will replace experienced judgment Managers and users often perceive that a BI solution may replace or override their knowledge and experience for business decisions that affect their area of responsibility. The reality is that BI empowers decision making and leverages experience by providing supporting detail often otherwise missing. Critical to the success of any BI implementation is a common vision of how BI is going to improve business decisions.

Debunk Myth#1 with clear expectations and assurances that the value your employees experience will only be augmented with better information.

Myth #2: Users prefer to figure it out rather than receive training Even the simplest BI tool takes time and practice to help users make the most of the solution. Companies that don’t invest in training often end up wondering why no one uses the tool. The entire organization from top to bottom should receive some level of formal training to get full value from the BI solution. Allowing users to focus time and attention on learning how to use the BI solution will help with user adoption and acceptance.

Avoid Myth #2 by scheduling formal training - away from their regular job - that provides users with hands-on training. (But don’t make them work overtime to “penalize” them for training.)

Myth #3: Once the implementation is done, it’s done A BI project is not over simply because the application has been deployed. BI is an evolution that supports the change and growth of an organization. Start with highly visible and easy-to-implement projects so that people build confidence in its value and in using it. The more complex projects should be scheduled for implementation after familiarity and confidence have been sufficiently built.

The whole point is to leverage the organization’s information assets to new levels of utility and value, so that decision-making across the entire organization, from top to bottom, and with the organization’s external partners, is more effective and productive. Revisiting the uses of BI on a regular basis will ensure that the organization is making the most of their investment.

Debunk Myth #3 by incorporating BI as a strategic component of all business planning activities.

Let’s talk about what BI solution is right for your business. Call us today.

Business owners often have multiple accounts with many different websites and Web services. There’s one element that links them all together, no matter their purpose: the password. A password is an owner’s sacred key that’s trusted to very few people. You expect that when you share your password with a website, it’s secure. This isn’t always the case and some of LinkedIn’s users’ passwords have recently leaked.

LinkedIn is a popular social media site that caters to professionals and helps them to network and find jobs. In the past few days, news stories have emerged about how members’ passwords were leaked online.

How passwords work The password you enter to access a website like LinkedIn acts as a handshake to confirm that the user trying to access the account is who they say they are. Remember the last time you signed up for a new account, and had to enter the password you’re going to use? The owner of the website stores that password in a, normally encrypted, file and tells the Web page to reference this file when you log in. If the passwords match, you’re allowed in. If not, you get the password error page.

What happened? A hacker discovered a way to exploit the calendar feature in the LinkedIn mobile app. Basically, when the calendar in LinkedIn was updated, the information, including your password is encrypted and sent to LinkedIn’s servers, which then update your profile with the information. The hacker developed a way to grab the encrypted password data for around 6.4 million users.

The hacker then published the encrypted passwords online for other people to decrypt. LinkedIn has released an update to the mobile apps to plug this leak, but the passwords are still online.

What does this mean for me? The chances of your account’s password being among the ones leaked is pretty small. However, if your password was posted, someone with programming and encryption knowledge could decipher it, and gain access to your account. If this happens, this poses a security risk as they will be able to access any and all data you have stored on that account. Beyond that, if you use the password for other accounts, they could gain access to them also.

How do I know if my password was compromised? LinkedIn knows of the leak and has taken steps to minimize the damage.

1. When you next try to log in to your LinkedIn account, you’ll get a message telling you the password no longer works.
2. LinkedIn has emailed users whose passwords have been leaked informing them to change their password. This email has no links in it, so if you get an email supposedly from LinkedIn with links to change your password, DON’T click on the link. There have been reports of such emails (with links) being sent out. These emails are phishing schemes which aim to steal your password.
3. LinkedIn will send you a follow-up email explaining more about what happened and why you were asked to change your password.

Alternatively, you can go to lastpass.com and test your password.

If you haven’t received an email, your password probably wasn’t leaked. We do suggest that, for security reasons, you change your LinkedIn password as soon as you can. You can do this by:

1. Going to LinkedIn’s website and logging in.
2. Hovering your mouse over your name in the top right corner of the window and selecting Settings from the drop down menu.
3. Clicking on Account located in the pane underneath your profile picture. If you don’t see Account click on the grey shield icon.
4. Selecting Change password and following the instructions.

If you feel that your accounts are unsecured, or would like to enhance your current security, please contact us. We may have a solution for you.

Microsoft enjoys a monopoly on Office suites for desktop computers, although where it’s lacking presence is in the smartphone and tablet markets. Because of this, many businesses are stuck without an office suite that allows them to open, create and edit documents on their Android tablets. App developers have realized this and have answered the call.

Here are four apps that have stepped up as alternatives for Microsoft Office on your Android Tablet.

Kingsoft Office - FREE Kingsoft Office allows you to open and edit Word and Excel files. You can only view PowerPoint and PDF files though. This app will also allow you to create Word and Excel documents. There are three versions of the app on the Google Play store, an English only version, an international version with support for 13 languages and a simplified Chinese version called WPS. If you can read simplified Chinese, go for the WPS version, as it has a few extra features. If not, go for the normal version.

Quickoffice Pro HD - USD 14.99 This app is quick, hence the name. With it you can use your tablet to create, edit and share Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, presentations and PDF files. You can also access and upload documents to major cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Beyond that, you can send files to other users via SMS, email, Bluetooth and social media. Note that there are two versions of this program on the Google Play store. The HD version is for tablets only.

Google Drive - FREE with 5GB storage Google Drive is Google’s cloud storage/collaboration tool. When it was released, Google Docs was rolled into this service. While this app can read Office documents, it does have problems with Office related formatting. If your company uses Google Apps, then Google Drive is the app you should be using. If you’re expecting a full featured document editor, it’s a better idea to look at the other options.

Documents To Go - FREE to USD 14.99 Documents To Go is a free app that allows you to view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and Google Doc/Drive files. If you download the Full Version, you can create and edit Office files and PDFs. You’ll also be able to download and save Google Drive documents. There are two features that set this app apart. The first is that you can sync files from and to your Windows PC, and the second is that it has a layout that’s simple to use.

These four apps each offer something different, and between them they should meet your needs. If you need help choosing one that’s a perfect fit for you, please get in touch with us.

There are very few software programs used by nearly every business. One of these programs is Microsoft Office which is available on nearly every major operating system, and has captured a large user base. Word is Office’s word processor and is an integral part of most knowleddge work, yet some struggle to master it. To make using Word even easier, you can use keyboard shortcuts.

Here are 20 handy keyboard shortcuts for Word that can help improve your productivity, or make navigating easier.

General These shortcuts will do the same thing in all Microsoft programs.

• Ctrl + P: prints the document, spreadsheet or presentation. If you have more than one window open, the item you’re currently looking at will be printed.
• Ctrl + W: closes the window you have open.
• Ctrl + O: brings up the Open document window.
• F12: opens the Save As window.
• Ctrl + S: will save the document.
• Ctrl + C: copies what you’ve selected.
• Ctrl + X: cuts what you’ve selected.
• Ctrl + V: pastes what you’ve copied or cut.
• Ctrl + A: selects everything.

Word specific These shortcuts can be used in nearly any version of Word. Note: Ctrl may be Control on some keyboards.

• Ctrl + F: will allow you to search the document for a word or sentence. If you press Replace in the window that opens, you’ll be able to find and replace words.
• Ctrl + Up arrow: moves up one paragraph from where the cursor - black, blinking line - is.
• Ctrl + Down arrow: moves down one paragraph from where the cursor is.
• Ctrl + Page Up: switches to the top of the previous page.
• Ctrl + Page Down: switches to the top of the next page.
• Ctrl + Shift + E: turns on track changes which will show any changes made to the document, convenient for editing. Pressing it again will turn track changes off.
• Ctrl + Shift + C: will copy the format of the selected text.
• Ctrl + Shift + V: pastes the previously copied format. Note: you need to select text to apply the copied format to.
• Ctrl + B/I/U: applies bold, italic or underlined formatting to selected text. If no text is selected, the respective formatting will be enabled.
• Tab: will move to the next selection. If you have a list with numbers or bullets, pressing Tab will indent the number or bullet in once, and change it to a subheading under the previous point. i.e., 2. will be indented and changed to a. as a subheading under 1.
• Shift + Tab: moves back, or moves one indent back (to the right). For lists, this will move the point up the hierarchy i.e., a. will be moved back to 2.

These are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for Word. For a full list of shortcuts you can go to the Microsoft Help and How-to page. If you’re interested in learning more about Word’s features and how they can be implemented, please contact us.

One of the most commonly marketed features of computers is the processor. The only problem is that the information can be a little confusing, as there are literally hundreds of different processors available, each with some sort of special feature. There’s no need to be confused, in fact, picking a processor really comes down to three different choices.

The processor, or CPU, is arguably the most important hardware component. It’s responsible for telling the other parts what to do, much like your brain. The processor is also an integral component in determining how useful an electronic device will be.

Processors are ranked in terms of hertz, or more commonly gigahertz e.g., 2.5 GHz. This is the frequency they run at. Generally, the higher the speed, the better the performance. Three different manufacturers produce a vast majority of the processors available for purchase.

1. Intel. Intel is the most popular and well-known maker of processors. Manufacturers like Dell, Apple, Samsung and HP all use Intel processors in their computers. Intel processors are the most stable and offer the best all-round performance. The current i3, i5 and i7 models represent entry, middle and high level hardware.
2. AMD. AMD is Intel’s biggest competitor, offering processors that are similar to Intel's, but at a, for the most part, cheaper price. The majority of computer manufacturers, except for Apple, also offer products with AMD processors. AMD’s Athlon processors are budget models while Phenom and FX are mainstream and high level respectively.
3. ARM. ARM processors are generally used in smartphones, mobile devices and tablets. Apple’s iPhone and iPad; Samsung’s Galaxy line and HTC devices all use some form of ARM processor in their mobile devices. A rule of thumb is, if it doesn’t have AMD or Intel in the name, it’s most likely an ARM processor.

When you’re looking for a new computer, it’s important to pay attention to the processor, as it will ultimately determine what you can do with the computer. If you’re ready for a new computer, and are unsure of solutions open to you, please contact us.

The security of a network and the systems within it is top of mind for many IT professionals and business owners. As such, many small business owners are implementing security measures to ensure their system stays secure. There’s a new malware program that could threaten the security of your system, regardless of which OS you use.

The malware software is called LillyJade, and is available for download at underground websites. When a hacker downloads the program, they can modify it to meet their needs. They then release it as a browser plug-in (software that adds functions, e.g., the ability to automatically translate a website), to your browser. It transmits itself by sending messages to an infected user’s Facebook friends with a link encouraging them to download the plug-in.

At this time, the purpose of the malware appears to be to conduct “click fraud.” It shows fake ads on sites like Facebook, Yahoo and MSN. These ads are usually pay-per-click, which means that any time an infected user clicks on one of these fake ads, the hacker gets paid.

There are two interesting things about this program. The first is that it infects browsers, not systems. This makes it nearly undetectable to virus scanners, which scan for infected files on your computer’s hard drive. The second is that the program can be modified to run on nearly any browser regardless of the operating system.

Tips to avoid being infected Here are four tips on how to minimize the chance of being infected by malware like this.

1. Keep your browser(s) up-to-date.
2. Don’t click on suspicious links.
3. If a friend messages you with a link, encouraging you to click on it, verify with them that they sent the link.
4. Don’t install browser plug-ins, unless you’re sure they’re from a vetted source.

As with any malware threat, proper preventative measures will normally be enough to ensure that your system is safe. If you’re unsure if your system is secure, or would like to implement more robust security measures, please contact us. We have a solution for you.

With the increasing amount of serious disasters striking around the globe, businesses are taking steps to ensure that they can keep operating during an emergency and that their data is protected. Striving to protect your data by backing it up is a good business practice, and can help ensure your company will remain open and operational during adverse times.

Here are the three main types of backup you can utilize in your company.

1. On-site backup. On-site storage is the practice of keeping a backup of your data in the same location that the original data is stored. If you have an external hard drive that you back your computer onto and it stays in the office, this is a form of on site storage. The main advantage to this is that if you need to restore a system, the data is right there and the backup can be started immediately. The main disadvantage is that if there’s a disaster, your backup data will most likely be gone.

2. Off-site backup. Off-site storage is similar to on-site storage, typically using the same form of hard drive to backup your data. The main difference is that drives are stored in a remote location, away from your business. The upside to this method is that if something happens at your physical location, your data is safe. The downside to this is that it takes time to travel to the storage location, retrieve the data, backup your system and take it back.

3. Online backup. Online backup utilizes the Internet to allow you to backup your data. The backups are kept on hosted servers (the cloud) and can be accessed through an application. The main pro of this method is that you can quickly and easily recover your data from any location, as long as you have access to the Internet. The downside is that if you have a lot of data, backups will use a lot of bandwidth, thus slowing your Internet speed down.

Regardless of the method, you should be backing up your business data at regular intervals. The best solution is to backup your data using all three methods. Use on-site for short term data storage (less than 1 week), off-site for monthly, and online as your main backup. That way, if one goes down, you have it covered. If you’d like to start backing up your data, or would like to know more about the different methods, please contact us.

It used to be when someone mentioned “cloud” we’d think of the sky. Now we think of apps like Dropbox and Google Drive. The term has been used for a number of years now, and many business owners are well aware of it and most likely use one form of cloud technology. The only problem is many are unclear on the terminology associated with this topic.

Here are 10 of the most common cloud terms and what they mean.

• Cloud. Cloud is the general term applied to anything that uses the Internet to provide an end user (in most cases, you) a service. Your information is hosted on a company’s servers and is accessed via an Internet connection. A good way to think of it is it’s equivalent to ordering delivery from a restaurant. Say you want Thai food, but don’t have the ingredients, so you have someone else do all the work and bring it to you.
• Cloud OS (operating system). A cloud operating system is an OS delivered via the Internet. The OS isn’t physically on your system, it’s located in a company's servers and you use a physical computer to access it. Windows Azure is an example of a cloud OS.
• Cloud provider. A company that provides a cloud service, storage and servers, usually for a fee. Google is one of the most well known cloud providers.
• Cloud storage. A cloud service that allows users to store data in another location, away from their computer, and access it using the Internet.
• Disruptive technology. A technology that’s so different and innovative it changes the way things are done. The cloud is a disruptive technology as it’s changed the way business is being done.
• Data center. What IT companies call the building where cloud servers are housed.
• IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service. This is the term used to describe any virtualized service being offered to a user. This can include virtualized servers, maintenance and software.
• PaaS - Platform as a Service. This term is used to describe any computing platform being offered over the Internet, normally the OS and related software. Google Chrome OS is considered to be a PaaS.
• SaaS - Software as a Service. The term applied to a single piece of software that’s offered over the Internet. Users access the software using the Internet and don’t need to install it on their computer. Gmail is considered to be SaaS.
• Client. Despite what many believe, the client is not the person who buys a cloud service. It’s what a user uses to access the cloud service. Computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones are all clients.

While there are many different cloud services out there, these terms are generally applied to all of them. If you’d like to learn more about the cloud and how you can utilize it in your business, please contact us.