ATECH MSP Blog

Internet connectivity is an increasingly important component to a business’ capabilities in this day and age, as well as all the more crucial to an individual’s everyday life. However, with financial difficulties restricting this access for many, the Federal Communications Commission has stepped in. With a $50 subsidy being made available to low-income homes each month, this situation warrants a closer look.

Software is a major part of doing business nowadays. Not only do you depend on it to manage core functions of your business, that software can be purchased in multiple different methods. When choosing management software, your business needs to choose one that fits your needs, returns long-term benefits, and provides a platform that will help you build your company. Let’s go through some considerations you’ll need to consider when choosing management software.

While looking to the past isn’t often an idea tied to information technology, there are times when it can play a valuable role in your strategy for it. Let’s look at some modern IT concepts that rely on foundational ideas set back in the day.

You’d think that the healthcare industry would be at the very cutting-edge when it comes to information technology implementation. That isn’t always the case. One technology that developers are really looking to take advantage of in the healthcare space is blockchain. The technology behind cryptocurrency is being used to help patients better control their care. Let’s take a brief look now. 

In business, building a strategy that produces results is the goal. If you are looking, you can find all types of stories about entrepreneurs changing the tried-and-true methods and finding abrupt (and sometimes sustainable) success. These stories may even have you questioning the way that you do business, especially if things aren’t going terribly well. Rest assured, that the best thing that can happen is to build processes that promote consistency. 

Whenever you ponder the purchase of a new computer, one important specification that you likely consider is its data storage. This was especially the case when you considered a new machine for family use—there are a lot of documents and photos to store, and any kids you have will want to fill it with games and other apps. Nowadays, it’s a little different. Rather than focusing on storage, you’ll want to focus on the computer’s speed. Let’s get into it a little further.

Printing is costly and those costs come from a lot of different directions. They come from paper and ink and the fact that printers seem to need constant maintenance. For some businesses, it’s all too much and they are actively looking for ways to go paperless and cut out their printing and filing costs. Today, we will examine whether or not forsaking the troublesome printer is actually cost effective. 

One of the major shifts we’ve seen in business in 2020 is the establishment of the remote workforce. Stay-at-home orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary for businesses to find solutions on how to securely transfer information from what could be unprotected networks. The virtual private network is a solution to this problem. Today, we will describe what a VPN is, what its primary use is, and how secure it really is for secure file transmission. 

It’s no secret that 2020 has been relatively tough on all of us, down to the technology that so many use and rely on each year. Now that we’re in the home stretch towards a hopefully better 2021, let’s look back at some of the technologies that didn’t deliver as promised and some of the other issues that we saw this year—some relatively harmless, and some decidedly not.

For the past couple of weeks we’ve taken a look at the 2020 flagship smartphones as well as some innovative new devices that are available now. This week, we will take a look at some of the budget options that are available to consumers. Not everyone has $1,000 to pay for a smartphone, but there are some pretty solid options out there that can provide a sufficient user experience to meet people’s mobile challenges. Let’s take a look at some of the options.

Social media companies are some of the most powerful entities in today’s world. Their ability to connect people with others of like mind or specific wants and needs often goes overlooked because much of the experience of operating online in today’s climate is adversarial. With the average user spending roughly two hours and 24 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, companies can use that exposure to promote themselves. Let’s take a look at how small and medium-sized businesses use social media to their advantage.

Last week, we explored the flagship smartphone market. This week we thought we would explore some innovative new devices. There have been some advances in some of the technology used by smartphone manufacturers to create cool new features. Today, we take a look at some of these devices. 

The modern smartphone user is dedicated, spending an average of three hours and 15 minutes per day using them. On average, people check their phones 58 times a day. With this amount of traction, it’s not a surprise that people want to get the best devices they can. Today, we will take a look at what makes a flagship phone, and give you a couple of popular options that are available for the power user right now.

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a common business communication solution nowadays… but it is still possible that you aren’t aware of what VoIP is and the many benefits it can deliver to your operations. To remedy this, let’s briefly review the concepts behind VoIP, and how your business can embrace them to its advantage.

After a long period, punctuated by no shortness of user demand, Chromebooks can now finally support Windows applications. Well, in a manner of speaking. Let’s examine the process that now allows a user access to the applications once denied to ChromeOS users, to consider if it is worth using after all.

For a couple years leading up to 2020, the Internet of Things was all the rage, but for obvious reasons, IoT hasn’t been at the top of many IT administrator’s minds unless it was in an effort to secure file access for the endpoints of a newly remote workforce. Despite the questions surrounding revenue and budgets, IoT can bring a lot of value to the small business. Let’s take a look at today’s IoT and talk about a few options that you can use for yours.

It hasn’t been too long since connectivity required an actual physical connection between the connecting endpoints, making a wired connection the de facto option for businesses. However, now that wireless connectivity is so widely available, businesses now have a choice… but which is the better option? Let’s compare some of the pros of each to make the answer a little clearer.

Mobility has to be one of the most talked about technology trends in business, and for good reason. Consumers use mobile. They use it for shopping, banking, checking the weather, for driving directions; and today, they use it for productivity. Let’s take a look at the rise in mobility and how small businesses can use it to their benefit.

Drones are a technology that comes with some controversy, but also some real utility. Known best as an unmanned deterrent measure used by governments, today drones are used for a multitude of different tasks. Today we’ll discuss how drone technology has expanded over the past several years. 

A business has to have a telephone system. It is the simplest and most utilized method of communication. Many businesses, however, have to consider many variables before choosing theirs and it adds up to a lot of confusion. They need to take into account the cost, yes, but also the feature set, and the phone system’s ability to support much-needed mobility. Today, we will tell you about an option that checks all the boxes: a hosted VoIP system.